Infertility Treatments

Success rates

Greece lacks an official authority although it was officially established in 2005, responsible for supervising IVF units and checking the reliability and validity of the results they publish, unlike most European countries. As a result, some IVF units report success rates arbitrarily, which are far from reality.

Based on global data, the success rate of an IVF cycle depends on the woman’s age and hormonal profile, anatomic factors, sperm quality, the number and quality of embryos being transported, etc. With age, IVF success rates drop, which become virtually nil when the woman is 43-44 years old.

Unfortunately, many couples are lured by fictitious published success rates, and by women over 43-44 years of age who have had a child after multiple IVF failures, ignoring the fact that donor eggs have been used in most of these cases.

Dr. Ioannidis and the Assisted Reproduction Unit of MITERA apply the most modern techniques and use state-of-the-art technology to keep success rates high. Our patients and statistics confirm our success.

In order to know the international rates of success of the IVF, we present the statistics for in vitro fertilization in the UK as these are collected by the HFEA (Human Fertilization & Embryology Authority) www.hfea.gov.uk.

The birth rate of live births per IVF cycle in Great Britain is 25%

For Britain, this percentage is broken down by age as follows:

Up to 35 years of age: 35.5%

35-37 years:  28.7%

38-39 years:  20.2%

40-42 years:  10.9%

43-44 years:  2.4%

44+ years:  1.2%

In Greece the birth rates of live infants per IVF cycle are higher than those of Great Britain and other European countries due to different legislation allowing the implantation of 3 embryos up to the age of 39 and 4 embryos in women over 40. This makes Greece a very attractive destination for couples from Europe looking for high levels of IVF success.

In the team of Dr. Ioannidis the rates of live births per IVF cycle in women with their own egg for the period 2007-2011 are:

Up to 35 years of age: 46.5%

35-37 years:  39.7%

38-39 years:  29.2%

40-42 years:  16.9%

43-44 years:  5.4%

44+ years:  1.0%

Learn more about advanced techniques in IVF-In vitro fertilisation

Legislation

All assisted reproduction processes for the support of reproduction are regulated after 2002 by strict and clear legislation (Law 3089/2002 – Ν 3305/2005 and amendments thereof)

The main axes of the legislation are the following:

• IVF is not allowed when the woman is over 50 years of age
• The transfer of up to 3 embryos is allowed when the woman is under 40 years of age
• The transfer of up to 4 embryos is allowed when the woman is over 40 years of age
• Egg and sperm donation is allowed, provided that the male donor or female donor is anonymous to the recipients
• It is forbidden to mix the gametes of the woman with those of the donor or the sperm of the man with the sperm of the donor
• It is allowed to freeze embryos, ova and sperm
• Sex selection is not allowed for reasons of eugenics and family balance. Conversely, sex selection is allowed for medical reasons.
• Surrogate maternity is permitted.

Prior to each treatment, the couple must be informed of the procedure, the potential risks, and of the legal consequences and sign the corresponding written consents.

Dr. Ioannidis and the Assisted Reproduction Unit of MITERA are explicit and clear that all procedures are carried out under strict observance of the law and without any deviation from it.

Read the Government Gazette governing all assisted reproduction techniques