title: Anesthesia practices in the United States common to in vitro fertilization (IVF) centers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, USA.
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Ditkoff
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Plumb
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Selick
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Sauer
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000758:Anesthesia / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D000762:Anesthesia Recovery Period; D001794:Blood Pressure; D016292:Procedural Sedation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006261:Headache / Q000150:complications; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D009325:Nausea / Q000150:complications; D010823:Physician Assistants; D014481:United States; D014839:Vomiting / Q000150:complications; D000078329:Workforce
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics