Summary

  • In 1992 and 1993, infertile couples were treated by in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) in 23 IVF units in Australia and 5 in New Zealand. In Australia, this treatment resulted in 2,237 births after assisted conception in 1992 and 2,361 births in 1993. In New Zealand, there were 107 births after treatment in 1992 and 123 births in 1993.
  • The total number of treatment cycles increased from 16,809 in 1991 to 17,874 in 1992 and 18,765 in 1993. After transfer of fresh embryos to the uterus, the live-birth pregnancy rate was 8.5 per 100 oocyte retrieval cycles in 1992 and 9.5 per 100 in 1993; after transfer of fresh embryos to the fallopian tubes, the live-birth pregnancy rates were 9.2 per 100 in 1992 and 12.4 per 100 in 1993; and after GIFT, the live-birth pregnancy rates were 20.4 per 100 in 1992 and 20.8 per 100 oocyte retrieval cycles in 1993. After embryo freezing, the live-birth pregnancy rates were 9.8 and 9.6 per 100 embryo transfer cycles in 1992 and 1993, respectively.
  • Relatively more couples with infertility due to male factors were treated by IVF in 1992 and 1993 than in previous years. The use of various techniques of micro-insemination (mainly subzonal insemination and intracytoplasmic sperm injection) increased markedly from 393 cycles in 1991 to 812 cycles in 1992 and 1,243 cycles in 1993. Eleven IVF units were using these techniques in 1992 and 1993.
  • After oocyte donation and IVF, the live-birth pregnancy rates were 12.7 per 100 embryo transfer cycles in 1992 and 14.0 per 100 cycles in 1993.
  • The proportion of IVF treatment cycles in which more than 3 embryos were transferred declined from 5.3% in 1991 to 4.3% in 1992 and 2.6% in 1993. GIFT treatment cycles in which more than 3 oocytes were transferred declined from 11.0% in 1991 to 6.5% in 1992 and 4.7% in 1993.
  • In IVF pregnancies, multiple pregnancy occurred in 17.6% in 1992 (15.9% twins and 1.7% triplets) and in 17.3% in 1993 (15.7% twins, 1.5% triplets, and 1 quadruplet pregnancy). In GIFT pregnancies, there were 27.1% multiple pregnancies in 1992 (23.5% twins and 3.5% triplets) and 24.2% multiple pregnancies in 1993 (21.5% twins, 2.4% triplets, and 1 quadruplet and 1 quintuplet pregnancies).
  • The perinatal death rates in 1992-1993 were 31.6 per 1,000 births for IVF and 29.0 per 1,000 births for GIFT. Multiple births accounted for 47.8% of 90 perinatal deaths after IVF and 81.4% of 59 perinatal deaths after GIFT in these years.
  • Among 244 IVF pregnancies after micro-insemination in the period from 1990 to 1993, live births occurred in 74.6%, spontaneous abortion in 21.3%, and ectopic pregnancy in 2.5%. Except for fewer ectopic pregnancies after micro-insemination, these outcomes were similar to those for all IVF pregnancies. Among 218 births after micro-insemination, the perinatal death rate was 9.2 per 1,000 births and major congenital malformations were reported in 7 fetuses and infants (3.2%).