Question
asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 22 July (WA 246), whether the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is aware of any licensed centres for which the incidence of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is equal to or greater than that described in 2007 in the journal Human Fertility (volume 10, issue 3, pages 183–187); and how the figures reported in that journal compare to those in Professor Balen's 2005 report.
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) does not collect data on the incidence of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). The HFEA keeps a record only of cancelled cycles reporting the risk of OHSS—in other words, cycles which have usually been cancelled, either before or after egg collection, because of a perceived risk as opposed to patients where there is a clinical diagnosis of OHSS. In 2007, this applied to 611 out of a total of 35,946 cycles. These figures do not enable the HFEA to track the total number of patients who are at risk of or suffer from OHSS. These figures are available in an updated version of Professor Balen's 2005 report (updated in August 2008), which is on the HFEA website at: www.hfea.gov.uk/en/1709.html. As the updated report has only recently been completed, the HFEA has not undertaken a comparison of the figures in Professor Balen's report and the figures reported in the journal Human Fertility (volume 10, issue 3, pages 183-187).