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. 1997 Mar;14(3):145-7.
doi: 10.1007/BF02766130.

Anesthesia practices in the United States common to in vitro fertilization (IVF) centers

E C Ditkoff  1 , J Plumb, A Selick, M V Sauer
Affiliations

Anesthesia practices in the United States common to in vitro fertilization (IVF) centers

E C Ditkoff et al. J Assist Reprod Genet. 1997 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose: Our purpose was to characterize and describe anesthesia practice in programs performing IVF in the United States.

Methods: We used a telephone survey requiring respondents to be either the program director, a physician, or a nurse familiar with the practice. Two hundred seven (78%) Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) registered programs agreed to participate. Programs were divided by geographic region and type of practice (academic versus private).

Results: Ninety-one private (68%) and 41 academic (56%) programs used personnel provided by the Department of Anesthesiology. Conscious sedation was performed most commonly (95%). The remaining 5% used primarily either general, regional, or local anesthesia. Typical recovery times were 90 to 120 min. Average costs of anesthetic administration were $300- $400 and were similar among groups except for the Eastern academic programs, with a higher mean cost of $543. Programs using personnel from anesthesiology reported higher costs compared to programs utilizing their own staff ($391 +/- 15 vs $157 +/- 11; P < 0.05). Complications were infrequent (< 10%); no hospitalizations or serious life-threatening incidents were reported.

Conclusions: A large number of programs safely used their own trained personnel to deliver anesthesia, and realized a significant reduction in cost.

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