Complications

Infertility In Men

Complications of Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Multiple Births. About 38% of all ART births are multiple ones, with 5.8% being triplets or more. The increased incidence of such births poses a risk for complications, including caesarean sections, prematurely, and low birth weight. If the treatment produces multiple embryos the mother must decide if she will carry all of them to term, which increases health risks for both her and the developing fetuses. Aside from complete abortion, her only other option is embryo reduction, in which the physician removes one or more embryos, which can endanger the remaining embryos. The best approach is to limit the number of implanted embryos in the first place

Risks for the Woman

In one study of women who conceived only one child, the only risks that IVF posed for a mother were a higher rate of urinary tract infections before delivery and a much higher rate of caesarean sections (41.9% for IVF vs. 15.5% for natural conceptions). Other complications associated with ART procedures include spontaneous abortions (12.9%) and ectopic pregnancies (0.5%). It should be noted that infertile women in general have a poorer than average chance for full-term pregnancies regardless of whether they conceive spontaneously or with fertility treatments.

Risk for Birth Defects and Developmental Issues in Children. Although, in general, analyses of studies indicate that there is no higher risk for birth defects with ART procedure, long-term studies are needed on the newer procedures. To date, frozen eggs do not appear to pose a risk for developmental problems in children conceived using them, but follow-up studies are needed. Of concern are recent studies indicating that men with low or non-existent sperm counts due to genetic factors and who conceive using ICSI are at risk of transmitting these same genetic defects to their offspring.

Highlights

Infertility