Discarding IVF embryos: reporting on global practices.

PURPOSE: To provide a global scale report on a representative sample of the clinical embryology community depicting the practice of discarding supernumerary IVF embryos. METHODS: A web-based questionnaire titled "Anonymous questionnaire on embryo disposal practices" was designed in order to ensure anonymous participation of practicing clinical embryologists around the world. RESULTS: During a data collection period of 8 months, 703 filled-in questionnaires from 65 countries were acquired. According to the data acquired, the majority of practitioners, dispose of embryos by placing them directly in a trash can strictly dedicated for embryo disposal for both fresh and frozen cycles (39% and 36.7% respectively). Moreover, 66.4% of practitioners discard the embryos separately-case by case-at different time points during the day. Over half of embryologists (54%) wait until day 6 to discard the surplus embryos, while 65.5% do not implement a specially allocated incubator space as a designated waiting area prior to disposal. The majority of 63.1% reported that this is a witnessed procedure. The vast majority of embryologists (93%) do not employ different protocols for different groups of patients. Nonetheless, 17.8% reported the request to perform a ceremony for these embryos. Assessing the embryologists' perspective, 59.5% of participants stated that the embryology practice would benefit from a universally accepted and practiced protocol. CONCLUSION(S): This study uniquely provides insight into global embryo disposal practices and trends. Results highlight the divergence between reported practices, while indicating the significance on standardization of practice, with embryologists acknowledging the need for a universally accepted protocol implementation.

The Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire and its modified short version validation in adults and children with allergic rhinitis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop the Greek versions of the Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire and Mini-Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire for adult and pediatric populations, discuss their differences and detect the impact of age and gender on quality of life questionnaire results. METHOD: Ninety-eight patients with allergic rhinitis participated. Quality of Life evaluation was made by two generic (Short Form-36 and Beck Depression Inventory) and two disease-specific questionnaires (Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire and Mini-Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire). Symptom evaluation was made by the Total 5 Symptoms Score assessment. RESULTS: Internal consistency and test-retest reliability of both questionnaires was high. Convergent validity showed statistically significant negative correlations of total Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire and Mini-Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire with overall Short Form-36 Health Survey score and positive correlations with Beck Depression Inventory and Total 5 Symptoms Score. Discriminative validity demonstrated statistically significant improvement for all instruments and all domains after treatment. Females presented highly significant increased scores. Patient age was positively correlated with total scores of Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire and Mini-Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire. The clinically significant improvement after treatment was higher among females than males, while it was independent of patient age. CONCLUSION: Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire and Mini-Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire proved to be valid and reliable methods of assessment of allergic rhinitis-related quality of life in children, adolescents and adults.