Administration of Rectal Acetaminophen During Oocyte Retrievals Reduces Post-Operative Opioid Utilization in Fertility Patients

As the opioid epidemic shows no sign of abating, this national crisis deserves careful attention from all medical subspecialties. This includes reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI), where opioids are primarily utilized for intraoperative and postoperative pain management for outpatient procedures such as oocyte retrievals, operative hysteroscopy, and laparoscopic myomectomy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the administration of rectal acetaminophen in addition to the current, standard anesthesia and analgesia protocol in oocyte retrievals can help decrease utilization of prescribed opioid at home following oocyte retrieval. Rectal acetaminophen will be used rather than conventional IV acetaminophen because of the lack of access to IV acetaminophen at the study institution. Rectal acetaminophen is appealing because it is cheap, readily available in most medical centers and there is the potential for increased analgesic benefit due to the proximity to the vaginal and ovarian tissue, as well as the possible benefit from the partial avoidance of hepatic first-pass metabolism. This trial has the potential to provide practice-changing clinical information to the field of REI. The information gained can even translate to other ambulatory procedures and guide clinical practice. The investigators hypothesize that participants given rectal acetaminophen in addition to standard anesthesia/analgesia at the end of their oocyte retrieval will use less amount of prescribed Tylenol with codeine 3 days after discharge from the surgery center compared those receiving standard anesthesia/analgesia for oocyte retrieval.