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Objective To obtain evidence-based conclusions about the effect of acupuncture on pain relief in women undergoing oocyte retrieval, the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that met the criteria were assessed on the Pain Assessment Scale and pregnancy indicators. Search Methods References were retrieved in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CNKI database, CBM database, VIP database, and Wanfang database from inception to June 26, 2021. Unpublished ongoing trials were searched in the Clinical Trials Registries. This review included RCTs that investigated the acupuncture analgesic effects during oocyte retrieval in women undergoing in vitro fertilization. Results Fourteen RCTs (2503 women in total) with six types of comparisons were finally included. The quality of concluding evidence was generally low or very low. Performance bias and outcome assessment bias was the main risk of bias of the included studies. Acupuncture combined with conscious sedation and analgesia (CSA) was associated with less intraoperative (SMD=−1.03; 95% CI: −1.71 to −0.36) and postoperative (SMD = −1.11; 95% CI: −1.51 to −0.71) pain compared to receive CSA alone in oocyte retrieval. Acupuncture with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) was more effective than using NSAIDs alone for postoperative analgesia (MD = −1.76; 95% CI: −2.08 to −1.44). Conclusion Acupuncture complex analgesic therapy is more effective than utilizing CSA or NSAIDs alone. Furthermore, there is no significant consensus on whether there is an analgesic effect of applying acupuncture alone during oocyte retrievals, which needs further research. The overall results should be interpreted with caution due to the high risk of bias/low-GRADE scores among these studies. Protocol and Registration PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020170095.

Conscious sedation is a commonly used approach to provide pain relief during transvaginal oocyte retrieval. It has been shown to be effective with high levels of acceptability and patient satisfaction. Fundamental Standards and Development Standards in safe sedation practice have been set out by the Royal College of Anaesthetists and they recommend that Royal Colleges, in association with the relevant sub-specialty organizations, should develop guidelines on sedation methods appropriate to clinical practice in their sphere of influence. This Policy and Practice paper outlines the human resources and equipment necessary to optimize patients' safety for the administration of intravenous (I.V.) sedation in assisted conception units, based on the most current evidence and guidance available.

Transvaginal oocyte retrieval during assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) was introduced in 1981 [1–3]. Owing to its ability to avoid invasive surgery, ultrasound-guided transvaginal oocyte re...

There are little systematic data reported in the literature on complications observed after transvaginal oocyte retrieval (OR) guided by ultrasound. We report our experience in 542 in vitro fertilisation cycles. The frequency of severe complications in our patients was 0.72%; of these, two cases were bronchospasm during anaesthesia (0.36%) and two were cases of intraperitoneal bleeding (0.36%); minor vaginal bleeding was the most frequent complication (18.08%), which was treated easily. Through this retrospective analysis, it is evident that clinical suspicion is of particular importance in detecting post-OR complications on one hand, but on the other these complications are rare and most are treated conservatively.

The aim was to audit the standard of care at oocyte retrieval with respect to the analgesia used. Before June 1999, a combination of intramuscular pethidine and prochlorperazine was given as a single dose. Many women found this to be unsatisfactory and requested general anaesthesia for subsequent oocyte retrievals. An intravenous sedation and analgesia regimen was introduced using a combination of midazolam and fentanyl. The introduction of this regimen was audited and compared with the established regimen. This study describes the experience with this technique, its patient acceptability, safety and cost implications.

This study retrospectively compares patients who underwent outpatient transvaginal follicle aspiration with either a propofol- or methohexital-based intravenous sedation technique. Data collected f...