Cumulative live-birth rates after assisted reproductive technology.
OBJECTIVE
Despite the promising success rates of IVF, many couples have to undergo several cycles before achieving live birth. In counseling patients faced with subfertility, it is important to provide cumulative live-birth rates. This review evaluates the current knowledge on cumulative rates, summarizing recently published evidence.


RESULTS
Existing data have been mostly presented in the form of live-birth rates per IVF cycle as a function of maternal age or reason for subfertility. Recent publications have been reporting IVF success rates in terms of cumulative live-birth rate (CLBR) per woman, thus providing a more realistic estimate that becomes applicable to individual couples. In general, CLBR following IVF has been reported between 45 and 55%. Maternal age has been shown to significantly reduce these rates, as has preimplantation genetic diagnosis. On the contrary, techniques mostly used to decrease the chance of multiple births, such as elective single embryo transfer and natural cycle IVF, do not affect CLBR while achieving a significant reduction in the rates of multiples.


CONCLUSIONS
Couples should be counseled that CLBR following IVF lies mostly around 50% and that maternal age as well as genetics of transferred embryos remain factors that influence success.
Moragianni
Vasiliki A
VA
Boston IVF, Waltham and Division of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
Penzias
Alan S
AS
D004624:Embryo Transfer / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D050498:Live Birth; D008423:Maternal Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D019836:Preimplantation Diagnosis