Viral screening before each cycle of assisted conception treatment is expensive and unnecessary: a survey of results from a UK inner city clinic

TY - JOUR

T1 - Viral screening before each cycle of assisted conception treatment is expensive and unnecessary

T2 - a survey of results from a UK inner city clinic

AU - Pepas, Litha

AU - MacMahon, Eithne

AU - El-Toukhy, Tarek

AU - Khalaf, Yakoub

AU - Braude, Peter

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - The European Union Tissues and Cells Directive requires screening of tissue and cell donors for infective organisms to prevent inter-patient transmission. The Directive includes the unique term partner donation, which refers to "donation of reproductive cells between a man and a woman who declare that they have an intimate physical relationship". In line with the Directive, partners undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) now require screening before each treatment, regardless of the time interval between consecutive cycles. Evidence to support this recommendation is lacking. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective study of all virology screening tests undertaken over a three year period for individuals attending an assisted conception unit serving a high risk inner city population. We ascertained prevalence and seroconversion rates for HIV, hepatitis B and C and estimated the additional cost of implementing the Directive fully in our unit. With more than 3910 ART individuals screened between January 2007 and December 2009, the prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B and C was 0.6, 1.7 and 0.4%, respectively. A total of 422 individuals had a second screening test during the three year period and none seroconverted. This study suggests that increasing the frequency of screening individuals undergoing ART to less than 12 months would not confer added benefit and has significant cost implications.

AB - The European Union Tissues and Cells Directive requires screening of tissue and cell donors for infective organisms to prevent inter-patient transmission. The Directive includes the unique term partner donation, which refers to "donation of reproductive cells between a man and a woman who declare that they have an intimate physical relationship". In line with the Directive, partners undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) now require screening before each treatment, regardless of the time interval between consecutive cycles. Evidence to support this recommendation is lacking. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective study of all virology screening tests undertaken over a three year period for individuals attending an assisted conception unit serving a high risk inner city population. We ascertained prevalence and seroconversion rates for HIV, hepatitis B and C and estimated the additional cost of implementing the Directive fully in our unit. With more than 3910 ART individuals screened between January 2007 and December 2009, the prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B and C was 0.6, 1.7 and 0.4%, respectively. A total of 422 individuals had a second screening test during the three year period and none seroconverted. This study suggests that increasing the frequency of screening individuals undergoing ART to less than 12 months would not confer added benefit and has significant cost implications.

KW - ART

KW - EUTCD

KW - hepatitis

KW - HIV

KW - screening

KW - viral transmission

KW - HEPATITIS-B

KW - REPRODUCTION

KW - COUPLES

KW - VIRUS

KW - CONTAMINATION

KW - TRANSMISSION

KW - INFECTION

U2 - 10.3109/14647273.2011.627624

DO - 10.3109/14647273.2011.627624

M3 - Article

SN - 1464-7273

VL - 14

SP - 224

EP - 229

JO - HUMAN FERTILITY

JF - HUMAN FERTILITY

IS - 4

ER -