Programming in vitro fertilization for a 5- or 3-day week

Abstract

Objective: To schedule oocyte retrievals on either 5 or 3 days per week in in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles.

Design: Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration was delayed by at least 24 hours in patients undergoing superovulation to avoid egg collections on weekends (group 1). Encouraged by the results, a further prospective study in which oocyte retrievals were programmed for only 3 days a week was undertaken (group 2).

Setting: Hammersmith Hospital, a tertiary referral unit.

Patients: All patients undergoing IVF treatment were included.

Main outcome measures: To schedule oocyte retrievals on either 5 or 3 days per week.

Results: Only 4.0% of egg collections (12/303) occurred on weekends compared with 12.6% (22/175) before delaying hCG. In group 2 (n = 215), only four egg collections (2.1%) had to be performed out of schedule. Delaying administration of hCG had no detrimental effects.

Conclusions: Delayed administration of hCG allows scheduling oocyte retrievals on either 5 or 3 days per week, leading to a substantial decrease in out-of-hours oocyte retrievals, reducing cycle costs, and facilitating efficiency. The method is applicable to assisted reproduction specialized units as well as district general hospitals that use gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs in their superovulation regimens before IVF, gamete intrafallopian transfer, or intrauterine insemination.