Children Born After Assisted Reproductive Technology

ABSTRACT

Since the birth of Louise Brown in July 1978 and the birth of the first intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) child in January 1992 many couples with longstanding female-factor or male-factor infertility can be helped to overcome their infertility resulting in a delivery and birth of a child. The final and ultimate goal of all infertility treatments has been to give the large population of infertile couples a chance to fulfil their childwish and experience the happiness of having a healthy child. Major advances have been made in the different treatment protocols for infertility during the last 25 years. It is, however, surprising that only a limited number of studies have been carried out assessing the health of the children born after ART. In this review we shall comment on the limitations of follow-up studies on ART children and we shall review existing data on the outcome of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and ICSI pregnancies. The most important outcome data consist of information on minor and major congenital malformations obtained prenatally or after birth, as well as on the further development of the children.

KEYWORD

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection - in vitro fertilization - fetal karyotypes - malformations - development

REFERENCES

• 1 Simpson J L. Registration of congenital anomalies in ART populations: pitfalls.  Hum Reprod (suppl 4). 1996;  11 81-88
• 2 Wennerholm U B, Bergh C, Hamberger L. Incidence of congenital malformations in children born after ICSI.  Hum Reprod . 2000;  15 944-948
• 3 Ericson A, Källen B. Congenital malformations in infants born after IVF: a population-based study.  Hum Reprod . 2001;  16 504-509
• 4 Bergh T, Ericson A, Hillensjö T. Deliveries and children born after in-vitro fertilisation in Sweden 1982-1995; a retrospective cohort study.  Lancet . 1999;  354 1579-1585
• 5 Doyle P, Beral V, Maconachie N. Preterm delivery, low birthweight and small-for-gestational-age in liveborn singleton babies resulting from in vitro fertilization.  Hum Reprod . 1992;  7 425-428
• 6 Tan S L, Doyle P, Campbell S. Obstetric outcome of in vitro fertilization pregnancies compared with normally conceived pregnancies.  Am J Obstet Gynecol . 1992;  167 778-784
• 7 Olivennes F, Rufat P, Andre B. The increased risk of complication observed in singleton pregnancies resulting from in vitro fertilization (IVF) does not seem to be related to the IVF method itself.  Hum Reprod . 1993;  8 1297-1300
• 8 Verlaenen H, Cammu H, Derde M P, Amy J J. Singleton pregnancy after in vitro fertilization: expectations and outcome.  Obstet Gynecol . 1995;  86 906-910
• 9 Buitendijk S. IVF-Pregnancies Outcome and Follow-up [doctoral thesis]. University Leiden, 2000
• 10 Palermo G, Joris H, Devroey P. Pregnancies after intracytoplasmic injection of single spermatozoon into an oocyte.  Lancet . 1992;  340 17-18
• 11 Van Steirteghem C A, Nagy Z, Joris H. High fertilization and implantation rates after intracytoplasmic sperm injection.  Hum Reprod . 1993;  8 1061-1066
• 12 Bonduelle M, Camus M, De Vos A. Seven years of intracytoplasmic sperm injection and follow-up of 1987 subsequent children.  Hum Reprod (suppl 1). 1999;  14 243-264
• 13 Testart J, Gautier E, Brami C. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection in infertile patients with structural chromosome abnormalities.  Hum Reprod . 1996;  11 2609-2612
• 14 Van Opstal D, Los F J, Ramlakhan S. Determination of the parent of origin in nine cases of prenatally detected chromosome aberrations found after intracytoplasmic sperm injection.  Hum Reprod . 1997;  12 682-686
• 15 Govaerts I, Devreker F, Koenig I. Comparison of pregnancy outcome after intracytoplasmic sperm injection and in-vitro fertilization.  Hum Reprod . 1998;  13 1514-1518
• 16 Loft A, Petersen K, Erb K. A Danish national cohort of 730 infants born after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) 1994-1997.  Hum Reprod . 1999;  14 2143-2148
• 17 Van Golde R, Boada M, Veiga A. A retrospective follow-up study on intracytoplasmic sperm injection.  J Assist Reprod Genet . 1999;  16 227-232
• 18 Wennerholm U B, Bergh C, Hamberger L. Obstetric outcome of pregnancies following ICSI, classified according to sperm origin and quality.  Hum Reprod . 2000;  15 1189-1194
• 19 Van Assche E, Bonduelle M, Tournaye H. Cytogenetics of infertile men.  Hum Reprod . 1996;  11 1-26
• 20 Bonduelle M, Aytoz A, Van Assche E. A.  Incidence of chromosomal aberrations in children born after assisted reproduction through intracytoplasmic sperm injection [editorial]. Hum Reprod . 1998;  13 781-782
• 21 Aytoz A, De Catte L, Camus M. Obstetric outcome after prenatal diagnosis in pregnancies obtained after intracytoplasmic sperm injection.  Hum Reprod . 1998;  13 2958-2961
• 22 ESHRE Task Force on Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection. Assisted reproduction by intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a survey on the clinical experience in 1994 and the children born after ICSI carried out until 31 December 1993.  Hum Reprod . 1998;  13 1737-1746
• 23 Palermo D G, Colombero L T, Schattman G L. Evolution of pregnancies and initial follow-up of newborns delivered after intracytoplasmic sperm injection.  JAMA . 1996;  276 1893-1897
• 24 Lancaster P AL, Hurst T, Shafir E. Congenital malformations and other pregnancy outcomes after microinsemination [abstract].  Reprod Toxicol . 2000;  14 74
• 25 ESHRE Capri Workshop Group. Multiple gestation pregnancy.  Hum Reprod . 2000;  15 1856-1864
• 26 Bowen J R, Gibson F L, Leslie G I. Medical and developmental outcome at 1 year for children conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection.  Lancet . 1998;  351 1529-1534
• 27 Bonduelle M, Joris H, Hofmans K. Mental development of 201 ICSI children at 2 years of age.  Lancet . 1998;  351 1553
• 28 Sutcliffe A G, Taylor B, Li J. Children born after intracytoplasmic sperm injection: population control study.  BMJ . 1999;  318 70-705
• 29 Sutcliffe A G, Taylor B, Saunders K. Outcome in the second year of life after in-vitro fertilisation by intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a UK case-control study.  Lancet . 2001;  357 2080-2084