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Practice Guideline
. 2021 Jan 25;36(2):275-282.
doi: 10.1093/humrep/deaa285.

The calm after the storm: re-starting ART treatments safely in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic

ESHRE COVID-19 Working Group; Luca Gianaroli  1 , Baris Ata  2 , Kersti Lundin  3 , Satu Rautakallio-Hokkanen  4 , Juha S Tapanainen  5   6 , Nathalie Vermeulen  7 , Anna Veiga  8 , Edgar Mocanu  9
Affiliations
Practice Guideline

The calm after the storm: re-starting ART treatments safely in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic

ESHRE COVID-19 Working Group et al. Hum Reprod. .

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created a significant impact on medically assisted reproduction (MAR) services. ESHRE decided to mobilize resources in order to collect, analyse, monitor, prepare and disseminate severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) knowledge specifically related to ART and early pregnancy. This article presents the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic focusing on reproductive healthcare. It details the rationale behind the guidance prepared to support MAR services in organizing and managing the re-start of treatments or in case of any future wave of COVID-19 disease. The guidance includes information on patient selection and informed consent, staff and patient triage and testing, adaptation of ART services, treatment planning and code of conduct. The initiatives detailed in this article are not necessarily COVID-specific and such action plans could be applied effectively to manage similar emergency situations in different areas of medicine, in the future.

Keywords: ART services; COVID-19; IVF; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus disease 2019; medically assisted reproduction; pandemic; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; testing; triage.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Triage system aimed at identifying potentially infected/infected patients in order to manage subsequent access to medically ART. Adapted from Giordano et al. (2020).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Summary of potential scenarios after triage and of subsequent approaches to be adopted. COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Recommended management of patients based on three scenarios following triage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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