Impact of physician performing embryo transfer on pregnancy rates in an assisted reproductive program

To evaluate the effect of the individual physician performing embryo transfer, on clinical pregnancy rates.

Data from a total of 485 consecutive embryo transfers performed on 485 women aged 23-37 years were prospectively collected for this study. All patients underwent a standard downregulation long protocol for ovarian stimulation. Oocyte recovery was performed at 36 h after hCG administration. Embryo transfer took place at 48 h after insemination. The patients were matched in two groups that have been linked to two different ET providers (A and B). The same method of loading embryos into the embryo transfer catheter was used.

Clinical pregnancy rates varied significantly (p< or =0.01) between the two providers: 36.1% in group A and 20.6% in group B. The number and quality of embryos transferred did not differ between the groups.

The results suggest that the physician factor may be an important variable in embryo transfer technique.