booklet

03
MESSAGE
FROM THE
DIRECTOR
Professor TC Li
Director & Person Responsible
I am so pleased to know that 2016 has been another fruitful year for us. We have
not only maintained the very encouraging improvement in results achieved in
the preceding year, with pregnancy rate per embryo transfer of >40%, but we
have also recorded a further improvement in the overall implantation rate, a
most sensitive key performance indicator of IVF treatment, from 29.6% in 2015
to 31.7% in 2016. Nevertheless, the most remarkable achievement may not be
instantly obvious from cursory reading of the statistics shown in the report.
The high pregnancy rate per embryo transfer has been achieved by keeping the
multiple pregnancy rate to a remarkably low level (9.1% in fresh embryo transfer
cycles and 13.3% in frozen embryo transfer cycles), a consequence of our
policy to replace a single blastocyst whenever possible. A high rate of multiple
pregnancy is undesirable as it is associated with increased obstetrical and
perinatal complications.
Another notable area of improvement this year is intra-uterine insemination,
with an almost doubling of pregnancy rate per insemination from 7.9% in 2015
to 14% in 2016.
The statistics presented in the annual report do not show the proud achievement
of our research team. There were a record high number of publications in
international journals in 2016 arising from the admirable efforts of the research
team, made possible by the full support of everyone in the clinical and laboratory
teams despite their busy workload.
I must take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone in the unit for their
genuine dedication and tremendous hard work. I know that our significant
achievement and ongoing progress in 2106 would not have been possible
without the fantastic team work.