The Risks of Assisted Reproduction

doi:10.1017/9781316488294.021

Chapter 21 - The Risks of Assisted Reproduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 June 2019

Neil McClure

Edited by

Jane A. Stewart

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Jane A. Stewart: Affiliation:
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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Summary

Assisted reproductive techniques (ART) are now responsible for more than 2% of all human births in the United Kingdom and closer to 5% in mainland Europe. According to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), 63,600 cycles of treatment were performed in 2013 alone in the United Kingdom [1]. Despite being so common, the ART ‘industry’ remains one of the most tightly regulated branches of medicine – and probably not without due reason as the consequences of error are potentially huge. This chapter deals, though, with the medical complications of the treatment process and not the ‘social’ complications of embryo mishandling.

Type: Chapter
Information: Subfertility, Reproductive Endocrinology and Assisted Reproduction , pp. 159 - 164

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316488294.021 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2019

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