You will need to book an appointment and it usually requires around one to two hours to complete the procedure, if it is your first infusion, or around 45 minutes if it is a repeat infusion. An Intralipid infusion is delivered directly into the blood stream by intravenous drip and this process is monitored and administered by the nurse. You will be made comfortable throughout the procedure. We advise that you bring along a book or some magazines to read as the procedure is quite lengthy. It is very important that you are not allergic to soy or egg products, and also that you do not have a history of high cholesterol or liver disease. It is administered 4-7 days before embryo transfer or insemination. A further Intralipid infusion is given 4-5 weeks following a positive pregnancy test, to keep the NK cells deactivated until the pregnancy can override the signals being sent by the immune system.
Intralipids are well tolerated by patients with few side effects. Patients who are allergic to soy bean oil, egg or glycerine cannot be given an Intralipid infusion. Side effects such as fever, headache or nausea and vomiting are rare and occur in less than 1% of infusions.
