A Personal Choice specializes in corrective tubal surgery for blocked fallopian tubes and reversal of tubal ligation. This tubal reversal and IVF series is dedicated to women over the age of 40 who are researching pregnancy alternatives. The previous article compared the pregnancy success of IVF vs. tubal reversal surgery.
The first and subsequent articles of our series is Tubal Ligation Reversal After Age 40 | Introduction.
This article discusses pregnancy rates of in vitro fertilization (IVF) vs. tubal ligation reversal as they relate to patient age.
Tubal Ligation Reversal and IVF: Data Sources
IVF data has been obtained from the latest available national statistics complied by the US Center for Disease Control 2006 Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Annual Report).
Tubal ligation reversal data has been obtained from the 2007 A Personal Choice Pregnancy Report and is the largest known data base of tubal reversal pregnancy success data in the world.
From 2001 to 2007, over 4000 women have undergone tubal ligation reversal at our tubal reversal center. The tubal reversal pregnancy success rates demonstrated on these graphs are those experienced by patients of A Personal Choice and may not be applicable to other tubal reversal providers.
IVF Pregnancy Success: Impact of Age
Our previous article reviews the average chance of having a successful pregnancy when undergoing IVF using fresh, nondonor eggs (patient’s own eggs). The information presented in this article demonstrates the impact of age upon pregnancy success. The average chance of IVF pregnancy success, not considering age, is 35% per cycle.
The graph below is critical to understanding how age impacts the success of IVF when using fresh, nondonor eggs. Any reader considering IVF should be aware of their specific age related chance of success when undergoing IVF. Readers should also keep in mind the average chance of pregnancy success after reversal of tubal ligation is 70%; the success rate of pregnancy after tubal ligation reversal tends to decrease after the age of 40.
Pregnancy is defined as any developing embryo seen in the uterus with ultrasound in the first trimester.
Live birth is the birth of any child which survives (this includes multiples and preterm birth).
Singleton live birth is the birth of any singleton infant which survives (term or preterm).
IVF Pregnancy Success: Explanation
In general, pregnancies (the triangles) are the highest number because women will become pregnant, but some of them will have miscarriages in early pregnancy. Live births (the circles) are the second highest numbers because many IVF patients will have multiple gestation pregnancies (twins or more) and give birth to these infants resulting in more infants born alive (term or preterm). Singleton live births (squares) are generally lower because a smaller portion of IVF pregnancies are singleton births.
IVF Success And Age: Take Home Message
The above graph illustrates how the success rate of IVF, when using fresh nondonor eggs, is heavily dependent on patient age. The IVF nondonor egg birth rate begins a gradual decline between 30-32 and then declines more significantly after 36-38. The IVF live birth rate after the age of 44 comes very close to zero. The average IVF pregnancy rate using nondonor eggs is about 35%. Our previous article discusses the national IVF pregnancy success data in greater detail.
Tubal Ligation Reversal Pregnancy Rates Compared With IVF
The bar graph below represents pregnancy rates for tubal reversal patients of A Personal Choice compared to national IVF patients for each of the indicated age groups. In almost every category, our tubal reversal patients demonstrate a higher pregnancy success rate than do national patients who undergo IVF when using fresh, nondonor eggs.
Pregnancy for IVF is defined as any developing embryo seen in the uterus with ultrasound in the first trimester.
Pregnancy for tubal reversal is defined as any patient submitted report to our center of a positive pregnancy test.
Tubal Ligation Birth Rates Compared With IVF
The bar graph below represents live birth rates for our tubal reversal patients compared to national IVF patients for each of the indicated age groups. In almost every category, our tubal reversal patients demonstrate a higher birth rate than do national patients who undergo IVF.
Birth rates for tubal reversal or IVF are for any surviving infant born either term or preterm.
Tubal Ligation Reversal vs. IVF: Take Home Message
The live birth rate is the best comparison when trying to compare between tubal ligation reversal and IVF because a live birth is what patients really want. The statistics compiled from our extensive patient database of over 4000 tubal reversal patients over the last six years clearly demonstrate A Personal Choice patients do similar, if not better, at obtaining pregnancy success when compared to the national average of patients who undergo IVF using nondonor eggs.
The average chance of pregnancy success is 70% after tubal reversal and 35% after a single cycle of IVF and both treatments are adversely impacted upon by age.
We stopped performing IVF in the mid 1990’s and decided to concentrate on helping to serve women who are unable to conceive because of tubal ligation or tubal blockage. A Personal Choice specializes in corrective tubal surgery for tied or blocked fallopian tubes.
