Anesthesia for in vitro fertilization

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is one of the most recent advances in the treatment of infertility. The availability and utilization of this technology are increasing by the hour. IVF procedures are usually performed on an outpatient basis under day care surgery units. Various anesthetic modalities and analgesic regimens have been tested in different studies, but no definite conclusion so far been made regarding the preferred technique for anesthesia and pain relief for these procedures. Many anesthetic drugs have been detected in the oocyte follicular fluid and may potentially interfere with oocyte fertilization and implantation. The ideal anesthetic technique for IVF should provide good surgical anesthesia with minimal side effects, a short recovery time, high rate of successful pregnancy, and shortest required duration of exposure. The preferred method of anesthesia and analgesia should be individualized as at present there are no perfect answers.