Less is more: the risks of multiple births. The Institute for Science, Law, and Technology Working Group on Reproductive Technology

OBJECTIVE

To review the medical, social, and financial risks caused by the birth of multiples that need to be addressed in policy and practice.

RESULT(S)

Many risks of multiple births are described in the literature. The medical risks to the offspring include death, low birth weight, deformational plagiocephaly, and other physical and mental disabilities. Risks to the women include premature labor, premature delivery, pregnancy-induced hypertension, toxemia, gestational diabetes, and vaginal-uterine hemorrhage. Children born in multiples face difficulty socializing, developmental delays, and behavioral problems, whereas their parents risk exhaustion, depression, and anxiety. In addition to personal costs faced by families, society often bears the financial costs of overburdened hospitals, caps on insurance and/or inability of parents to cover expenses.

CONCLUSION(S)

Multiple births present potential acute and long-term medical risks to the pregnant woman and her children. However, more long-term follow-up research and more research on outcomes with higher-order multiples are needed. In designing practices and policies to improve the success of IVF while reducing the risk of multiples, it is important to balance the many interests involved. At a minimum, providers and patients need to be educated about the risks of multiple gestation so that steps can be taken to prevent adverse outcomes.

Recent trends in assisted reproductive techniques and associated outcomes

OBJECTIVE

We examined recent trends in success rates for assisted reproduction and determined the influence of changes in patient selection and treatment characteristics on these trends.

METHODS

We collected baseline information and abstracted treatment-related details and outcomes on 1244 couples accepted for in vitro fertilization (IVF) or gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) at three clinics in greater Boston from 1994-1998.

RESULTS

Delivery rates per initiated cycle improved significantly from 14.9% for IVF and 20.6% for GIFT in 1994-1995 to 22.5% for IVF and 28.0% for GIFT in 1997-1998 (P < or = .001). After adjusting for female age, the two treatment-related variables that appeared most likely to explain this trend were decreased use of GnRH agonists in short course (flare) regimens and increased use of highly purified forms of urinary gonadotropins.

CONCLUSION

There were significant improvements in the success rates for IVF and GIFT from 1994-1998 that correlated with changes in ovulation induction regimens.

[Diminishing the risk of multiple pregnancies in in vitro fertilization: from selective transfer of two embryos to that of one blastocyst?]

The risk of multiple pregnancy after IVF needs to be drastically reduced. Several policies can be applied including the transfer of a maximum of three embryos to all patients, the fertilization of a maximum of three oocytes or a selective reduction of the number of transferred embryos. The first policy previously applied at the Fertility Clinic at Erasme Hospital until 1996, transferred two good quality embryos to patients with at least three good embryos. If this policy demonstrated that patients with two transferred embryos had similar chances of pregnancies compared to patients with three transferred embryos, it failed to sufficiently decrease the number of multiple pregnancies. The second policy applied since 1997, transferring a maximum of two average or good embryos to all patients aged under 35 years and with less than 3 previous attempts, demonstrated that while preserving the chances of pregnancy for these patients, it decreased by 20% the number of multiple pregnancies and almost eliminated triplets. With the improvement of culture media, it is now possible to culture embryos in vitro for a longer period and therefore transfer embryos with proven viability at a time corresponding more to in vivo physiological conditions. The implantation rates for these embryos, for patients with at least 4 previous attempts can reach 40%. If these results persist, it would be possible to transfer blastocysts to all patients and perhaps move on to the replacement of a single embryo, a policy that will practically eradicate all multiple pregnancies.

[Results of in vitro fertilization therapy methods in Germany in 1996--the German In Vitro Fertilization Registry]

We believe that on the IVF subject, which is nowadays applied exept a standard method in the world. In the next years we could expect further improvement in our success++. It is also to anticipate that next changes in the development of assistance-reproduction will be: 1. Freezing of ovums, 2. To get in vitro-meture of the immature cells, 3. Transplantation of ovarium tissue, 4. Transfer of the blastocyst, 5. Transfer of cytoplasma or the cell nucleus. We recommend that the IVF/ICSI--therapy and birth of children has to be registrated in one central register.

[20 years in vitro fertilization: what follows?]

During the last two decades in-vitro fertilization (IVF) developed on a worldwide scale by increasing numbers of treated couples and by extending the medical indications. Existing treatment protocols have been optimized to such an extent that pregnancy rates over 30% are reached in many treatment units. Further improvements of the pregnancy rate may be achieved with assisted hatching, which is now the subject of a large European multicentric prospective study based on the University of Lausanne. On the other hand, the occurrence of multiple pregnancies, which is the main complication of IVF, may be limited by reducing the number of embryos replaced. Further improvements of treatment efficacy may result from the introduction of new medications, such as recombinant FSH or GnRH-antagonists, allowing for the adaptation of the treatment protocol used to the individual needs of each patient. A treatment protocol combining a GnRH-antagonist and gonadotropins may be particularly valuable in young patients for the purpose of avoiding the ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. The major disadvantage of these novel medications consists of their increased costs. Therefore, a new treatment strategy is currently developed aiming at shortening the ovarian stimulation in combination of a prolongation of the laboratory phase. The in-vitro maturation of immature oocytes aspirated from small follicles previously primed with recombinant FSH has been shown to be a feasible alternative to the present treatment modalities. Cryopreservation of unfertilized oocytes together with in-vitro maturation may prove to be helpful for women prior to chemotherapy or radiation because of malignant diseases or for patients suffering from incipient ovarian failure. At present, there seems to be no alternative to assisted reproduction although the dominance of this technique may impede the development of more cause-related treatment strategies in infertility.

[Multiples births: a continuing problem with assisted reproductive techniques]

Assisted reproductive techniques (ART) such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), ovulation induction and superovulation followed by insemination have caused a sharp increase in multiple birth prevalence rates. The perinatal morbidity of multiple birth infants is high because of the high incidence of premature birth. The social and psychological problems of multiple birth families are also considerable. In 1990 high-order multiple births were mainly the result of IVF. Although the number of IVF treatments has increased more than the number of other ART treatments, nowadays high-order multiple births are predominantly caused by superovulation. Since 1990 the number of high-order multiple births has stabilised, but the recent sharp increase in ART twins results in a further rise in births of severely preterm ART infants. More restraint should be practised in superovulation treatments to bring down the number of (high-order) multiple births.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection today: a personal review

There no longer seem to be any categories of male factor infertility that cannot be treated with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Even for men with azoospermia caused either by obstruction or by germinal failure, ICSI may be performed successfully. The only failures will be in azoospermic men who have neither spermatozoa nor spermatids retrievable from the testis, but these men comprise a small percentage of the cases with severe male factor. The source of the spermatozoa and the cause of the sperm defect appear to have no effect on the success of the procedure, whether the spermatozoon is epididymal, fresh or frozen, testicular, ejaculated, or from the testicles of men with severe defects in spermatogenesis. Maturation arrest, Sertoli cell-only, cryptorchidism, chemotherapy and mumps do not appear to have a major impact on the pregnancy rate. Of all the factors studied in couples where the male is severely infertile or azoospermic, the only factor that seems to matter (as long as spermatozoa are retrieved) is the age of the wife and, to a considerably lesser extent, her ovarian reserve. Extensive genetic and paediatric follow-up studies of ICSI pregnancies have revealed no increased risk of congenital malformation (2.6%), no increased risk of de-novo autosomal abnormalities, and a 1.0% risk of sex chromosomal abnormalities. These results are very reassuring, but point to the need for careful counselling of couples with male infertility.

[Age and in vitro fertilization. French National Register on In Vitro Fertilization]

The mean age of IVF patients women and men is always increasing, this is probably due to the late desire for pregnancy nowadays. Pregnancy rate decreases with the age of wife and in a minor way with the age of man. The most important factor is the quality of woman answer to ovarian stimulation. Among women of 42 or over, the one with a high estradiol level on hCG day (> 4000 pg/ml) are the only older women with a correct pregnancy rate.

[Modern fertilization techniques]

In Germany, some 17.2% of married couples are unintentionally childless. Of these, about one-third have a male factor infertility (with disordered spermatogenesis), which in part is unresponsive to drug treatment. In such cases, assisted reproductive techniques are giving childless couples new hope. The techniques are based on two principles: 1) in vitro improvement in semen quality in the laboratory, and 2) the overcoming of natural barriers to fertilization. The latter includes intra-uterine insemination (IUT), in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF/ET), gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT), subzonal sperm insemination (SUZI), zona pellucida drilling, and intracytoplasmatic injection of sperm (ICSI). ICSI has also used epididymal spermatozoa obtained by microsurgical aspiration (MESA) and sperm extracted from testicular biopsies (TESA). These methods have their own specific indications, contraindications and pregnancy rates. However, assisted conception techniques should not be considered outside the overall situation of the couple, including ethical, sociological, physiological and general medical problems.

[Male subfertility and conventional in vitro fertilization in Germany 1990 to 1993]

A retrospective study was carried out to compare the results of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in 20936 patients with different sperm parameters who underwent IVF in Germany between 1990 and 1993. The study was designed to evaluate prognostic factors for IVF outcome, such as sperm parameters and pre-treatment diagnosis. The percentage of subfertile sperm parameters ( < 10 millions sperm per ml and/or < 30% progressive mobility and/or < 30% normal morphology) increased from 31.4% in 1990 to 51.1% in 1993. The fertilisation rate per puncture varied between 87.9% in patients with normozoospermia and 38.7% in patients with severe oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia (OAT). The fertilisation rate in patients with tubal indication was significantly higher than in patients with male indication and comparable spermatozoa. The pregnancy rate per embryo transfer was 23% in patients with normozoospermia and 13.8% in patients with "severe OAT syndrome" in the IVF semen parameters. On the other hand, patients with male sterility as pre-treatment diagnosis showed significantly higher chances of pregnancy than patients with a tubal factor (24% versus 20%, p < 0.05). Comparing percoll and swim-up preparation techniques, we found significantly higher fertilisation rates in normozoospermia and significantly higher pregnancy rates in subfertile patients after percoll sperm preparation. The results of the study demonstrated that patients with moderate subfertile sperm parameters have good chances of fertilisation and pregnancy following conventional IVE. It seems reasonable to set the boundary at a sperm count of 10 millions sperm/ml with 30% progressive motility and 30% normal morphology. Below these limits intracytoplasmic sperm injection shows better IVF outcome.

An argument for the past and continued use of pentoxifylline in assisted reproductive technology

Pentoxifylline was first used within an in-vitro fertilization (IVF) programme before the advent of alternative treatment strategies such as oocyte micromanipulation. Over the years, it has continued to be useful in aiding fertilization in selected IVF cases, with a beneficial effect also being seen in certain cases treated by intrauterine insemination. In both instances, the acrosome reaction to ionophore challenge test appears to have been invaluable in identifying suitable patients. The stimulation of spermatozoa by pentoxifylline should remain a therapeutic option in the treatment of couples with a male factor present. As an adjunct to IVF, it has the advantage of being simpler and less costly to perform compared with micromanipulation. However, its use should be restricted to selected cases, and the merits over and above those of invasive procedures such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection should be discussed with the individual patients. The pretreatment of spermatozoa prior to intrauterine insemination in selected cases gives an alternative therapeutic strategy to those patients not wishing or unable to undertake IVF.

In vitro fertilization 1986. New procedures and new questions

The number of infertile couples undergoing treatment by means of in vitro fertilization and embryo replacement is still increasing at a logarithmic rate from the first successful delivery in July 1978. At the present time, several hundred centers around the world are treating patients and had produced in excess of 2,200 live births by fall of 1985. Recent advances including better treatment regimens to increase the number of recoverable oocytes, refinements of laboratory procedures, less invasive oocyte recovery procedures, and the development of embryo freezing should lead to wider availability, lower cost, and most importantly, higher success rates of successful pregnancy establishment. Along with these advantages, the increased number of oocytes and embryo freezing have raised certain questions concerning the rights and obligations of doctors, parents, and even embryos.