Parents are very often concerned about health of the child, conceived in vitro. The number of children around the world who were born owing to IVF application is already over 5 million. The occurrence of handicaps does not exceed that in children conceived ordinarily. Besides, apart from that with the help of IVF it is possible to reduce the number of children born with genetic diseases to zero.
This procedure is carried out in case of multiple pregnancy after 7 weeks of pregnancy to prevent noncarrying, which in this case occurs 3-4 times more often than insinglet pregnancies. Selective reduction is termination of fetus development by way of gestation sac puncture through posterior vaginal vault with ultrasonic guidance.
After IVF multiple pregnancies occur more often than usually (1% in spontaneous pregnancies) and make up about 24%. Such a high rate in the quantity of multiple pregnancies after IVF is mainly connected with the transfer of several embryos into the uterus. Multiple pregnancy is often complicated by spontaneous miscarriage and preterm delivery (up to 50%). To reduce the noncarrying of pregnancy frequency, selective reduction is conducted.
Extrauterine pregnancy after IVF occurs in 3% to 5 % of patients. Up until recently surgery - Fallopian tube removal - had been the only method for its treatment. Today it has become possible to avoid traumatic operation. With ultrasonic guidance the puncture of gestational sac, located outside the uterus, is made. A medicine that stops further development of pregnancy is injected into its cavity. The gestational sac fully resolves after this procedure.
Surgical trauma at the time of transvaginal follicle puncture is minimal and is merely connected with tissue puncture by a needle. Some women notice a bloody issue from vagina on the first day after the ovarian puncture, but it is normal. To avoid a serious bleeding caused by possible larvated disorder of blood coagulation, thorough investigation before treatment is necessary.
Possible complications of IVFare:
- Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS)
- Bleeding in case if a blood vessel is injured by a needle
- Extrauterine pregnancy
- Multiple pregnancy
- Exacerbation of chronic female genital inflammatory diseases
Success of IVF depends on many different factors: parents’ age, reasons and duration of infertility, ovary reaction on stimulation, quantity and quality of oocytes that mature in follicles, sperm quality. Quite often the procedure outcome cannot be explained from the scientific point of view. The technology of the process, the character of hormone medications being applied, medium quality, provision of clinics with laboratory glassware and plastic ware are very significant for the increasing of IVF effectiveness.
The effectiveness of ART cannot be subjected to firm statistics. Many clinics overstate the percentage of successful cases to advertise themselves. However, it is possible to state that the number of successful programs is constantly increasing owing to appearance of new and more progressive nutrient media, medications, equipment and medical consumables (catheters, needles, plastic).
After ART (assisted reproductive technologies) cycle the most valid way to determine pregnancy is ultrasound diagnosing of fetal heartbeats, which can be registered from the 6th week of pregnancy. Less valid method is the HCG blood test (it determines pregnancy only given the absence of HCG medication support of the second phase), which is conducted on the 10th-12th day after ET or urine test (determines pregnancy after 12-14 day after ET).