Collection of human oocytes for in vitro fertilization

By laparoscopy or laparotomy, oocytes were recovered from 42 (90%) of 47 patients. A total of 185 follicles containing 138 oocytes were aspirated by means of a specially constructed aspiration unit. The patients followed two different schemes pre-operatively. In the unstimulated patients an average of 1.3 pre-ovulatory oocytes per patient was collected, while treatment with 600-900 IU human menopausal gonadotropin + 6 000-12 000 IU human chorionic gonadotropin resulted in an average of 2.0 pre-ovulatory oocytes per patient. It is concluded that laparoscopy in combination with the described aspiration technique seems to be a clinically suitable method for collection of human oocytes for in vitro fertilization.