Supervisors info:
Ε. Σαλαμαλέκης Καθηγητής Μαιευτικής Γυναικολογίας, Δ. Κασσάνος Καθηγητής Μαιευτικής Γυναικολογίας, Χ. Συριστατίδης Επ. Καθηγητής Μαιευτικής Γυναικολογίας
Summary:
From birth in 1978 of her first child after application of IVF were born until
today, more than four million children worldwide. One of the first questions
that arose was and continues to be the health and proper development of these
children. The purpose of this thesis is to review the complications that occur
in children born by IVF procedures.
As regards neonatal complications associated with the application of IVF, these
include multiple pregnancy, prematurity, extremely low birth weight infant,
neonatal disorders, growth restriction, congenital abnormalities, chromosomal
abnormalities, imprinting disorders, the vertical transmission of genetic
diseases and increased perinatal mortality.
Regarding the neurological and developmental growth of children born from IVF,
the data to date are reassuring and the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic
complications, although small in childhood, is expected to deteriorate later in
life, leading to the onset of chronic cardiometabolic disease. These important
data strongly emphasize the need for further metabolic epidemiological studies
in adolescents and adults born from IVF. As regards the increased
susceptibility to disorders of the thyroid gland in the offspring due to
application of IVF techniques surveillance is required, as subclinical
hypothyroidism has been associated with the metabolic syndrome, and therefore
this is an area that should be studied thoroughly in the near future.
Particular emphasis should be given in the increased relative risk for the
incidence of certain childhood malignancies, such as tumor Wilms,
retinoblastoma and fetal rhabdomyosarcoma.
Finally, caution should be dealt with special procedures used in IVF as it
seems to be associated with an increased risk of congenital abnormalities and
perinatal mortality.
In conclusion, although the results, so far, on the health of children born
from IVF techniques are encouraging, it is highly important that large scale
cohort studies are designed, in order to clarify fully the issues of health and
developmental progress of children.
Keywords:
IVF, Perinatal, Childhood, Puberty, Outcome
