The egg retrieval itself
A short procedure with genuinely low risk, and more pain afterwards than people are warned about.
Eggs are collected through the vaginal wall with a needle guided by ultrasound, under sedation or anaesthesia. Three large series, tracked prospectively or across thousands of cycles:
| Complication | Rate | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Bleeding from the vaginal wall | 2.8% of procedures | 1,058 retrievals, prospective |
| Bleeding into the abdomen needing admission or surgery | Roughly 1 to 4 per 1,000 | 4,052 and 7,098 cycle series |
| Injury to bladder, bowel or ureter | 1 case in 1,058; none in 4,052 | Two series |
| Pelvic infection | None in either large series | Two series |
| Anaesthesia or sedation complications | None reported in either series | Two series |
The 4,052-case series was in healthy young egg donors, which is the cleanest read on the risk of the procedure itself without the illness of the patient mixed in. Complications there were 17 in 4,052 (0.42%), with 14 admitted and 6 needing an operation.
The part that is under-warnedIn the prospective series that measured it: 3% of women had severe to very severe pain after retrieval, 2% still had severe pain two days later, and 0.7% needed hospital admission for pain control. Pain rose with the number of eggs collected.
If you are told this is a procedure you will walk out of and forget, that is true for most women and not for all of them. Ask what the plan is if you are still in significant pain the next day, before you need to know.
If you are told this is a procedure you will walk out of and forget, that is true for most women and not for all of them. Ask what the plan is if you are still in significant pain the next day, before you need to know.
Where this comes from:
50. Ludwig AK, Glawatz M, Griesinger G, Diedrich K, Ludwig M. Perioperative and post-operative complications of transvaginal ultrasound-guided oocyte retrieval: prospective study of >1000 oocyte retrievals. Hum Reprod. 2006;21(12):3235-3240.
51. Bodri D, Guillén JJ, Polo A, Trullenque M, Esteve C, Coll O. Complications related to ovarian stimulation and oocyte retrieval in 4052 oocyte donor cycles. Reprod Biomed Online. 2008;17(2):237-243.
52. Aragona C, Mohamed MA, Espinola MSB, Linari A, Pecorini F, Micara G, et al. Clinical complications after transvaginal oocyte retrieval in 7,098 IVF cycles. Fertil Steril. 2011;95(1):293-294.
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This page is educational. It supports the conversation with your own clinicians. It is not consent to any treatment, and it cannot assess you. If you are worried about a symptom now, see urgent warning signs.