Do patients need to remain in bed following embryo transfer? The Birmingham experience of 103 in-vitro fertilization cycles with no bed rest following embryo transfer

Since the early days of human in-vitro fertilization and embryotransfer, rest in bed for hours immediately following the transferhas been advocated and widely practised. However, there is noscientific validation for this practice which is both time-consumingfor the patient and increases space occupancy in the hospitalor clinic. We report here on a study of 103 in-vitro fertilizationcycles with no bed rest in hospital following the embryo transfer.The mean number of embryos transferred was 2.7 (range 1–3)and the clinical pregnancy rate per embryo transfer procedurewas 40%. These results suggest that bed rest is not necessaryfollowing embryo transfer.