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The birth of Louise Joy Brown - the world's first baby born following in-vitro fertilization - heralded a medical revolution. Forty years later, many thousands of babies are born each year following IVF. Assisted reproduction is a global industry with a multi-billion dollar turnover. It is a complex mix of science, clinical management, bioethics, and commercial imperatives. Many of the pioneers of IVF are still with us and have a fascinating tale to tell. Here, they relate the story of the development of IVF and related technologies in a way that will prove invaluable to future generations of practitioners seeking to understand the genesis of the specialty. This is not an academic history: rather it takes an informal and anecdotal approach; informing and entertaining for generations of past, present and future medical and scientific specialists of IVF, alongside the millions of parents, who celebrated the successes of IVF treatment worldwide.

Fertilization in vitro, Human.

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Contemporary Dutch policy and legislation facilitate the use of high quality, accessible and affordable assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) to all citizens in need of them, while at the same time setting some strict boundaries on their use in daily clinical practices. Through the ethnographic study of a single clinic in this national context, Patient-Centred IVF examines how this particular form of medicine, aiming to empower its patients, co-shapes the experiences, views and decisions of those using these technologies. Gerrits contends that to understand the use of reproductive technologies in practice and the complexity of processes of medicalization, we need to go beyond ‘easy assumptions’ about the hegemony of biomedicine and the expected impact of patient-centredness.

Fertilization in vitro. --- Netherlands

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Fertilization in Vitro

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Fertilization in Vitro

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Conventional in vitro fertilization treatment requires hormone ovarian stimulation to increase the numbers of mature oocytes retrieved. In in vitro maturation, immature oocytes are instead retrieved from unstimulated ovaries and matured in a laboratorium for 30 hours, before fertilisation. Approximately 400 children have been delivered following in vitro maturation. In Norway in vitro maturation of oocytes was granted conditional approval for the period 2004-2008. Norwegian authorities will in 2007 assess whether in vitro maturation of oocytes as a method within assisted reproduction will be permitted in Norway also in the future. Mandate The Directorate for Health and Social Affairs has asked the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services to summarize the documentation of the clinical outcome of IVM cycles and the obstetric, perinatal and devolopmental outcome of IVM children. Methods We have performed a systematic search for literature in the following databases: Cochrane Library, Medline and Embase for the period 2004-2008. Results We included 17 relevant publications that represent 8 unique datasets. Few studies were controlled and no RCTs were identified. These studies documented results from 182 IVM children. Two studies had follow-up data, but no studies had followed the children more than two years. Reported rates of spontaneous abortions varied between 17 and 63 %. Pregnancies per embryo transfer in the studies varied between 0 and 36 %. Alhough included studies reported that IVM children were healthy, and with normal development, further studies are needed to make conclusions regarding the impact of IVM on childrens' health and development. Conclusion There are no relevant randomized controlled trials reporting clinical success or safety following IVM in assisted reproduction. Few children are born after IVM, and few studies with short follow-up-time have followed the IVM children.

Fertilization in vitro. --- Pregnancy.