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74 - The Future of Assisted Reproduction

from PART IV - ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN FERTILITY AND ASSISTED REPRODUCTION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2010

By
Biljana Popovic Todorovic  and
Paul Devroey
Edited by
Botros R. M. B. Rizk ,
Juan A. Garcia-Velasco ,
Hassan N. Sallam  and
Antonis Makrigiannakis
Botros R. M. B. Rizk
Affiliation:
University of South Alabama
Juan A. Garcia-Velasco
Affiliation:
Rey Juan Carlos University School of Medicine,
Hassan N. Sallam
Affiliation:
University of Alexandria School of Medicine
Antonis Makrigiannakis
Affiliation:
University of Crete
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Summary

The past three decades have witnessed revolution in reproductive medicine. Since the birth of Louise Brown in 1978 (1), there has been an expansion in the number of vitro fertilization treatment worldwide. In the first European Register publication (2) 203,893 IVF/ICSI were reported by eighteen European countries, and by 2002, this number rose to 324,238 cycles from twenty-five countries, accounting for almost 60 percent increase of registered cycles (3). In the last World IVF report from 2000, 460,157 cycles were carried out in forty-nine countries, and it was estimated that approximately 200,000 babies were born (4). Although neither European nor World coverage is complete regarding the register data, the expansion of IVF is evident, and the estimate is that more than three million children have been born as a result of assisted reproduction since the beginning.

The driving force of this medical field has always been better treatment outcome. Increasing the efficiency of the treatment is what the future holds for us.

DEFINITION OF SUCCESS

What is the definition of success in assisted reproduction? A debate was started in Human Reproduction in 2004, with the suggestion of Min et al., to define success as “BESST – birth emphasizing a successful singleton at term” (5). This sparked discussion of many renowned international groups, and a number of definitions were introduced – healthy lower order birth (6), number of elective single embryo transfers per center (7), and value of cryopreservation programs (8).

Keywords

assisted reproductionembryo transferendometrial receptivitygonadotropin-releasing hormone agonistsin vitro fertilizationovarian stimulationgonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonists
Type
Chapter
Information
Infertility and Assisted Reproduction , pp. 747 - 758
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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