ABSTRACT
Since the birth of Louise Brown in July 1978 and the birth of the first intracytoplasmic
sperm injection (ICSI) child in January 1992 many couples with longstanding female-factor
or male-factor infertility can be helped to overcome their infertility resulting in
a delivery and birth of a child. The final and ultimate goal of all infertility treatments
has been to give the large population of infertile couples a chance to fulfil their
childwish and experience the happiness of having a healthy child. Major advances have
been made in the different treatment protocols for infertility during the last 25
years. It is, however, surprising that only a limited number of studies have been
carried out assessing the health of the children born after ART. In this review we
shall comment on the limitations of follow-up studies on ART children and we shall
review existing data on the outcome of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and ICSI pregnancies.
The most important outcome data consist of information on minor and major congenital
malformations obtained prenatally or after birth, as well as on the further development
of the children.
KEYWORD
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection - in vitro fertilization - fetal karyotypes - malformations
- development
