Hi, my name is Bobbi, and I am a Research-oholic.

Reproductive Science Center of the SF Bay Area  San Ramon, CA

Clinic Summary Report

Treatment Type			Procedure Frequency			Diagnosis Frequency
IVF	100%		ICSI	90%		Tubal factor	0%		Other factor	0%
						Ovulatory dysfunction	0%		Unknown factor	0%
			PGD	3%		Diminished ovarian reserve	0%		Multiple factors
						Endometriosis	0%		Female only	0%
						Uterine factor	0%		Female and male	0%
Select Year:  2008  2007  2006  2005  2004  2003						Male factor	100%
Total Cycles:1,053						Select Diagnosis:  All Diagnoses  Endometriosis  Diminished Ovarian Reserve  Multiple Female Factors  Ovulatory Dysfunction  Tubal Factor  Uterine Factor  Female and Male Factors  Male Factor  Other Factor  Unknown Factor

Data Verfied by: Louis N. Weckstein, MD
Select Treatment Type:  All Treatment Types  Fresh Embryos from Patient's Oocytes  Thawed Embryo Transfers  Donated Oocytes  Gestational Carrier - Patient's Oocytes

Fresh Embryos From Non-Donor Oocytes	<35	35-37	38-40	41-42
Number of cycles	43	20	29	8
Percentage of cycles resulting in pregnancies	58.1	45.0	31.0	2 / 8
Percentage of cycles resulting in live births	53.5	30.0	27.6	2 / 8
(Reliability Range)	(38.6 - 68.4)	(9.9 - 50.1)	(11.3 - 43.9)
Percentage of retrievals resulting in live births	54.8	30.0	30.8	2 / 7
Percentage of transfers resulting in live births	59.0	30.0	33.3	2 / 7
Percentage of cycles with elective single embryo transfer	5.1	0	0	0 / 7
Percentage of cancellations	2.3	0	10.3	1 / 8
Implantation rate	40.7	24.5	20.0	11.5
Average number of embryos transferred	2.1	2.4	2.3	3.7
Percentage of live births with twins	34.8	1 / 6	0 / 8	1 / 2
Percentage of live births with triplets or more	0	1 / 6	0 / 8	0 / 2

Current Clinic Services and Profile
Current Name:	Reproductive Science Center of the SF Bay Area
Donor egg?	Yes		Gestational carriers?	Yes		SART Member?	Yes
Donor embryo?	Yes		Cryopreservation?	Yes		Verified lab accreditation?	Yes
Single Women?	Yes

So, if you know me, you know much I love to do research. Aaron can't stand how I overanalyze and over question things, but that is how God made me, so I am choosing to embrace it, rather than deny it. :)

Since Aaron and I committed to IVF, I started researching things. Not just statistics, but just to understand the whole process better. If you go through the history of my Internet Explorer, you would see nothing but infertility-related searches (with an occasional Facebook and Blogger). :)

The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (SART) keeps a database of every ART clinic's success rates. The last year published is 2008, but since then, I know RSC's success rates have steadily increased. What I most like about the SART's publications is that it breaks down the success rates not only for each age group, but also for each infertility diagnosis, which, in our case, is male factor.

In 2008, RSC's success rate for male infertility was 59%. Not too shabby, right? Considering, RSC's overall success rate (for all infertility diagnoses in the >35 age group) was 46%. That means, in 2008, IVF was 13% more successful for couple's experiencing male infertility factor than the average of success rates for all infertility diagnoses combined. Make sense?

RSC Clinical Pregnancy Rates Jan - Sept 2010

Fresh IVF/ICSI cycles - Day 3 and Blastocysts Combined

Age of Women	<35	35-37	38-40	41-42
Egg Retrievals	150	94	95	52
Transfers	142	89	90	49
Clinical Pregnancies	76	44	41	14
Pregnancy rate per transfer	54%	49%	46%	29%
Average # of embryos transferred	1.9	2.1	2.5	3.5

Above are RSC's success rates for January to September of this year. As you can see, these success rates are for day 3 and blastocyst transfers combined. I fall in the 54% category, which is up from 2008's overall success rate of 46%. That's a whoppin' 8% difference in 2 years! It's amazing the progress ART is making each year!

However, if you account for our infertility diagnosis being male factor, and that resulting in a 13% higher success rate than the 2008 average, then, you would think that the 2010 success rate would follow a similar pattern.

Which, would then bring our estimated success rate to 67%, the higher end of the 60% to 65% success rate Dr. Weckstein has given us.

Okay, you following so far? On top of all that, Dr. Weckstein gave us a chart with a breakdown of RSC's 2008 statistics. It showed that 67.7% of all blastocyst transfers for >35 years of age resulted in pregnancy. That's really high! I can only imagine that it's a little higher a couple years later.

So, I guess what I'm trying to get at with all of this...is that the numbers are in our favor. Now, if only I can feel some relief in knowing that.

I went through so many ups and downs today. So many moments of complete confidence that I'm pregnant, that this is really happening. And then the opposite, with just as many moments where I freak out! scare myself into questioning if it worked. These darn cramps are really messing with my head!!!

At least I only have five more days of this insanity. Then, we will all know! And our success (or failure) will become one of RSC's numbers for this year's statistics.

But, to me, it'd be much more than a number.