Background: Difficult embryo transfers (ET) requiring general
anesthesia are occasionally encountered in clinical practice. Little
evidence is present in the literature as to the success rates when
compared with difficult transfers not requiring anesthesia. Objective:
To evaluate the impact of using Propofol anesthesia during difficult
embryo transfers on the implantation and clinical pregnancy rates.
Design: Retrospective patient chart review. Materials and methods:
Women undergoing ICSI cycles in the Egyptian IVF-ET center, from
January 2000 December 2002, and having difficult ET requiring
general anesthesia (Group I = 99 women) were included. A matching group
of women with difficult ET, without anesthesia (Group II = 99 women)
were used as a control. Results: There were no significant differences
in the patient demographics (e.g. age, period of infertility, number of
oocytes retrieved, fertilization rate, embryo quality, number of
embryos transferred. Moreover, there was no significant differences in
implantation (Group I = 19.15%, Group II = 20.86%) or clinical
pregnancy rates (Group I = 36.36%, Group II = 33.33%). Conclusion: The
use of propofol general anesthesia during difficult embryo transfer
does not seem to improve the implantation and pregnancy rates. Even
though, prospective randomized trials are needed to confirm these
findings
