When it comes to infertility treatment, the Wake Forest Baptist Center for Reproductive Medicine enjoys a high rate of success, landing it at number 2 on the top 25 list for successful in vitro fertilization treatment for women in the age category 38-40.
The information was recently published on the website Fertility Success Rates which obtains the latest available numbers posted by the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART). The available numbers are from 2009. Fertility Success Rates website ranks the top 25 IVF programs in the United States out of more than 450 clinics.
The Wake Forest Baptist program also ranks 10th in women under age 35 as well, the usual benchmark category for most IVF patients. It ranks 14th in the age category 35-37.
"After being ranked statewide and nationally for the previous reporting years, we have now risen to the top 10 in the U.S., really the world, since U.S. rates are always the highest in the world," said Tamer Yalcinkaya, M.D., a reproductive endocrinologist and director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine. "This is a testament to our dedication to provide the best possible treatment for our patients."
Fertility clinics are required by federal law to submit IVF success rate data on an annual basis to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC and SART publish IVF success rates for individual clinics.
Yalcinkaya and his team, which includes embryologist Alberto J. Carrillo, Ph.D., who directs the success in the lab, can point to several factors for the high success rates and national rankings.
Yalcinkaya's approach is more conservative than the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's (ASRM) guidelines for number of embryos transferred. For example, the ASRM recommends no more than three embryo transplants for women age 38-40, but the average embryo transfer rate for Yalcinkaya's patients in that age group is 2.6 with a 49 percent pregnancy rate. He said each patient and her history has to be taken into consideration, as well as the egg quality.
The Wake Forest Center for Reproductive Medicine also offers pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD. It works by screening a single cell from each embryo conceived through in vitro fertilization. The DNA analysis allows doctors to identify the healthiest embryos for transfer to the uterus.
"It's a wonderful option to have that I can offer to my patients when they're trying to get pregnant again, have experienced either recurrent miscarriage or they have a family history of genetic disorder and they're afraid to try to get pregnant on their own," said Yalcinkaya.
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