Is there any difference in pregnancy and implantation rates when nurses perform embryo transfer in an IVF-ET program?

A retrospective analysis of fresh in vitro fertilization treatment cycles and frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles from mid-1995 to December 31, 1998, was undertaken. Nurses performed embryo transfer (ET) for government-funded cycles, whereas doctors performed ET for self-funded cycles. During the study period, fresh ET was performed in 1,165 treatment cycles. There were no significant differences in demographic data, ovarian responses and the number of embryos replaced between ET cycles performed by nurses and doctors. Pregnancy rates for ETs performed by nurses and doctors were 16.7 and 15.8% per transfer, respectively, whereas the corresponding implantation rates were 8.3 and 6.9%, respectively. Similar pregnancy and implantation rates were encountered in FET cycles whether ET was performed by nurses or doctors. Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel