At-Home IVF Kit: application during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

At-Home IVF Kit: application during the COVID-19 pandemic Z. Merhi1;2; , J. Zhang1 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University and New Hope Fertility Center, New York, 10019 (United States) 2Department of Biochemistry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, 10463 (United States) Summary The guidelines, at the time of writing this manuscript, recommend withholding fertility treatments due to fear of the COVID-19. However, many fertility doctors and many patients, especially those with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR), strongly suggest that their fertility treatment including oocyte and/or embryo freezing is a time-sensitive matter due to fear of losing all their ovarian reserve. This report presents a novel approach for ovarian stimulation at home in women with DOR for oocyte/embryo cryopreservation using At- HOME IVF kit mailed to the patients’ home, and without the need for blood hormones and transvaginal ultrasounds monitoring. In this study, women (n = 22) diagnosed with DOR who underwent either oocyte (n = 6) or embryo freezing (n = 16) were included. Each patient took the medications included in the kit without the frequent visits to the office for monitoring and presented only once to the fertility clinic on the day of the oocyte retrieval. Upon presentation on the day of oocyte retrieval, none of the patients had ovulated. All patients underwent oocyte retrieval with 21 out of 22 patients having had at least one or more oocytes collected, with the number of mature oocytes retrieved ranging from 1 to 7. Eight out of 16 patients (50%) who underwent IVF, had embryos cryopreserved at either the cleavage-stage or blastocyst stage. This report suggests that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, At-HOME IVF kit presents a novel solution for women with DOR, or in situations where time is of essence, limiting office visits and thus minimizing the risk of coronavirus infection. Key words: IVF; Home; Coronavirus; COVID-19; Oocyte freezing; Pandemic.