NICE Guidelines Summary

New NICE guidelines have been published in Feb 2013

They replace previous guidelines

The full guidelines can be found here: http://publications.nice.org.uk/fertility-cg156

Some important changes and new guidance for 2013 includes:

• Do not offer oral ovarian stimulation agents (such as clomifene citrate, anastrozole or letrozole) to women with unexplained infertility.
• Inform women with unexplained infertility that clomifene citrate as a standalone treatment does not increase the chances of a pregnancy or a live birth.
• Offer IVF treatment (see recommendations 1.11.1.3–4) to women with unexplained infertility who have not conceived after 2 years (this can include up to 1 year before their fertility investigations) of regular unprotected sexual intercourse.
• Do not routinely offer intrauterine insemination, either with or without ovarian stimulation
• Offer an earlier referral for specialist consultation to discuss the options for attempting conception, further assessment and appropriate treatment where:
  1. the woman is aged 36 years or over
  2. there is a known clinical cause of infertility or a history of predisposing factors for infertility
• Do not use any of the following tests individually to predict any outcome of fertility treatment:
  • ovarian volume
  • ovarian blood flow
  • inhibin B
  • oestradiol E2
• For women who are taking clomifene citrate, do not continue treatment for longer than 6 months.

There is also guidance on the number of embryos to transfer for IVF and the number of IVF/ICSI cycles by age.

These points relate to good practice and do not imply that any treatments will be state funded

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