Ongoing pregnancy rates in in vitro fertilization are not dependent on the physician performing the embryo transfer

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the influence of the factor of the physician performing the ET with a standardized procedure on the ongoing pregnancy rates in an IVF-ET program. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: Tertiary university hospital. PATIENT(S): Subfertile women with an IVF indication. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Ongoing pregnancy. RESULT(S): Six physicians performed 977 ETs. Ongoing pregnancy rates ranged from 19.1% to 29.0%, with an average rate of 23.1%. Logistic regression analysis revealed that physician is not a statistically significant variable. Differences between the pregnancy rates achieved by the physicians are within the limits of random variation. CONCLUSION(S): The probability of success in IVF is not dependent on the physician, provided the transfer procedure is standardized.