Professor reviews current state of IVF

In vitro fertilization has enabled thousands of infertile couples to achieve pregnancy since its first in the late 1970’s. But does the reward from this procedure outweigh the risk?

While speaking at the World Congress of Fertility and Sterility in Munich Germany, Professor Karl-Gosta Nygren, chair of the International Committee Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies, explained that there have been increased incidences of birth complications from assisted reproduction procedures, while they are at a low level.

“To pronounce IVF to be safe or not would be an oversimplification.” Nygren said in his address regarding current IVF safety. “Nothing is totally safe. For example, there is, of course, no such thing as a zero risk pregnancy and child birth.”

Nygren continued, explaining the goal of all assisted reproduction should be for IVF children and mothers to be as safe as any other child or mother, and that current studies have shown this is not yet completely achievable. The professor gave examples of very slight increased risks of pre-eclampsia, neonatal death and some birth defects resulting from IVF procedures.

Nygren said that while these risks could come from IVF procedures themselves, they are more likely due to IVF parent’s previous difficulties with reproduction.

“We suspect that in many cases the greater risks are due to the fact that people who come for IVF already have difficulties in reproducing, and so by definition, reproduction is more difficult for them,” he said.

One specific technique Nygren recommends become more common in the IVF world is single embryo transfers. Currently, doctors commonly transfer multiple embryos per cycle into the mother’s womb, which increases the risk of multiple births and potential complications. Single embryo transfers greatly reduce the risk of multiple births.

Nygren concluded his speech in support of the many potential benefits of IVF.

“In summary, if we ask is IVF safe, then the real answer must be ‘safe enough from what we know’. The risks are small, and need to be kept in perspective, especially when set against the potential benefit of having a child. But we can’t be complacent, we need to keep monitoring especially new techniques, and although the risks are low they always need to be explained to prospective parents.”

A relatively new form of assisted reproductive technology is Embryo Adoption, which allows a family to receive remaining embryos from a donor family’s IVF treatment and use them in their own attempt to achieve a pregnancy.

For more information on embryo donation and adoption visit our website at www.EmbryoAdoption.org.

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