Anaesthesia for in vitro fertilisation

In vitro fertilization is an upcoming speciality. Anaesthesia during assisted reproductive technique is generally required during oocyte retrieval, which forms one of the fundamental steps during the entire procedure. Till date variety of techniques like conscious sedation, general anaesthesia and regional anaesthesia has been tried with none being superior to the other. However irrespective of the technique the key point of anaesthesia for in vitro fertilization is to provide the anaesthetic exposure for least duration so as to avoid its detrimental effects on the embryo cleavage and fertilization.