Pregnancy rates after embryo transfer depend on the provider at embryo transfer

Objective: To evaluate the effect of individual providers on pregnancy outcome after embryo transfer : Retrospective data analysis. Sett : University-based tertiary-care assisted reproductive technology program with 10 physician-providers. Patient(s): Six hundred and seventeen women who underwent 854 fresh embryo transfers between January 1996 and January 1999. Intervention(s): Pregnancies after embryo transfer were recorded for each provider. Main Outcome Measure(s): Establishment of a clinical pregnancy. Result(s): Three hundred ninety-three clinical pregnancies resulted from 854 embryo transfers, for an overall clinical pregnancy rate of 46.0% per embryo transfer. Three hundred forty-seven (40.6%) pregnancies were ongoing. The clinical pregnancy rate varied significantly between providers: for example, 17.0% (47 transfers) vs. 54.3% (57 transfers) (P<.05). Similarly, the ratio of high-grade embryos required to produce a gestational sac differed between providers. The number or quality of embryos transferred did not differ significantly. Conclusion(s): Significant differences were observed in pregnancy rates after embryo transfer done by different providers, suggesting that embryo transfer technique may influence pregnancy outcome in assisted reproductive technology. Copyright (C) 2000 American Society for Reproductive Medicine.