Pregnancy outcome after in vitro fertilisation at the Pretoria unit

This retrospective study was conducted to ascertain the success rate of a university-based in vitro fertilisation (IVF) programme. Over a 4-year period a total of 881 patients was aspirated with an 81.8% embryo transfer (ET) rate. This resulted in 150 biochemical pregnancies (20.8% per ET), and 92 births that produced 100 babies were recorded (12.8% per ET). Multiple pregnancies accounted for 8.7% of births and 6.5% of the 100 babies presented with minor congenital abnormalities. Delivery took place by caesarean section in 46% of cases. Birth mass of babies ranged from 1.06 to 4 kg with a mean of 2.944 +/- 0.629 kg. Mean gestational age was 260 +/- 18.2 days. Twenty-three percent of babies born were preterm, 13.8% of these were twins and presented with a low birth mass. It was concluded that the conception rate of patients did not differ with regard to the number of IVF attempts but that those who conceived during the first two attempts had a significantly better chance (P < 0.05) of carrying to term.