Objective: To summarize the procedures and outcomes of assisted reproductive technology (ART) initiated in the United States in 1996. Design: Data were collected electronically using the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinical Outcome Reporting System software and submitted to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine/Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Registry. Participant(s): Three hundred programs submitted data on procedures performed in 1996. Data were collected after November 1997 so that the outcome of all pregnancies established would be known. Main Outcome Measure(s): Procedural outcomes measured included clinical pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy, abortion, stillbirth, delivery, and congenital abnormality. Result(s): Programs reported initiating 65,863 cycles of ART treatment, including frozen embryo and donor oocyte cycles. Of these, 44,647 cycles initiated were in vitro fertilization (IVF) (with and without micromanipulation) with 26.0% deliveries per retrieval; 2,879 were cycles of gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) with 29.0% deliveries per retrieval; 1,200 were cycles of zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT) with 30.9% deliveries per retrieval. In addition to these cycles initiated in 1996, 9,610 frozen embryo transfer procedures were initiated with 16.8% deliveries per transfer, 3,768 donor oocyte cycles were initiated with an overall success of 39.1% deliveries per transfer, 1,096 cryopreserved embryo transfers from donated oocytes procedures with an overall success of 20.8% deliveries per transfer, and 688 ART treatment cycles using a host uterus were initiated with an overall success of 31.3% deliveries per embryo transfer. Also, 1,341 cycles were reported as combinations of more than one treatment type, 19 cycles as research, 311 as embryo banking, and 304 as other(unclassified) cycle types. As a result of all procedures, a total of 14,702 deliveries were reported resulting in 21,196 neonates. Conclusion(s): In 1996, there were more programs reporting ART treatment and a significant (11.3%) increase in reported cycles. In comparable cycle types, overall average success rates (deliveries per retrieval) exhibited an actual increase of 3.5% (this is an increase of 15.8% when compared to the success rate for 1995). (C) 1999 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
