[French in vitro fertilization registry. 1994 report]

FIVNAT registry collected information on 25,806 individual assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycles in 1994 and the present analysis concerns 20,473 cycles arrived on time to be incorporated, 93.5% being in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles, and 5.6% microinsemination cycles. The clinical pregnancy rates decreased from 20.4% to 18.5% per oocyte recovery cycle and from 25.5% to 23.6% per transfer, compared with 1993. The mean oocyte number (8.7 +/- 5.8) increased, but the mean embryo number (3.83 +/- 3.87) and the fertilization rate were slightly decreasing, and the mean number of transferred embryos decreased from 2.73 +/- 1.09 to 2.61 +/- 1.05. In 1994 the proportion of infertilities of pure tubal origin was still decreased to 33.7%, and that of male infertility increased. The pregnancy rate decreased only for infertilities involving a male factor, the semen characteristics becoming worse. Most of the stimulation regimen used the GnRH analogues protocols with a long blocking period (74.3%): they obtained the highest pregnancy rate per transferred embryo (24.7%). An increased proportion of transfers involved 2 embryos, and they were associated with a higher clinical pregnancy rate compared with 1993 (23.0% vs 21.8%). Those two facts indicate that the transfer policies involved a lower number of transferred embryos. The analysis of 13,446 clinical pregnancies resulting from recoveries realised between 1986 and 1993 showed a preterm birth rate of 9.3% for singleton. For those singleton pregnancies, in utero mortality concerned 6.2% of the children, and the neonatal mortality rate (< 7 days) was 5.2%. The overall malformation rate (major and minor) was 2.5%.