Received September 09, 2011
Accepted October 25, 2011

Objective׃ to investigate the potential adverse effects of general anaesthesia, used for oocyte retrieval, in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes. Methods׃ A total of 444 ICSI cycles in which a combination of fentanyl, propofol and sevoflurane was used for general anaesthesia during follicle aspiration were evaluated. Regression models were carried out to assess the influence of the mean period of anaesthesia per aspirated follicle (ΔT) on ICSI outcomes. In a further analysis, the cycles were split into groups according to the ΔT, and ICSI outcomes were compared between the groups. Results׃ regression analysis demonstrated a negative correlation between ΔT and the percentage of high-quality embryos (Slope: -5.015, R2: 4.4%, p<0.001). The ΔT was determinant to the decreased likelihood of pregnancy (OR: 0.77, CI: 0.64–0.93; p= 0.005) and embryo transfer (OR 0.17, CI: 0.06–0.48, p= 0.001). When the cycles were split according to ΔT, significant differences in the high quality embryos rate (55.6% and 44.2%, p=0.001) and the pregnancy rate (58.2% vs. 41.8%, p=0.045) were observed for values of ΔT ≤ 2 and > 2 min, respectively. Conclusion׃ Our study suggests that the general anesthesia negatively influences embryo development, pregnancy rate and cycle cancellation rate.