Pregnancy and Birth After Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Michael Ludwig ist Facharzt für Frauenheilkunde und Geburtshilfe mit dem Schwerpunkt gynäkologische Endokrinologie und Reproduktionsmedizin. Insofern beschäftigt er sich seit vielen Jahren ausschließlich mit den Hormonen der Frau und dem Thema unerfüllter Kinderwunsch. Prof. Ludwig hat mehrere Jahre an der Universitätsfrauenklinik Lübeck im Team von Professor Dr. med. Klaus Diedrich, einem Pionier der Reproduktionsmedizin in Deutschland, gearbeitet. Professor Ludwig leitet heute ein interdisziplinäres Facharztzentrum in Hamburg, das sich vorwiegend mit hormonellen Störungen bei Frau und Mann sowie mit dem unerfüllten Kinderwunsch beschäftigt. Das Team um Professor Ludwig hat in den vergangenen Jahren über 10.000 Kinderwunschpaare beraten und behandelt.

1 A Follow-up of Pregnancies in Assisted Reproduction: Necessity and Problems.- Why Is It Necessary to Perform a Follow-up of Pregnancies After an ART Procedure?.- Why Do Not All Centres Perform a Follow-up of Pregnancies After an ART Procedure?.- Conclusion.- 2 Incidence of Early Abortions and Ectopic Pregnancies in Assisted Reproduction.- Definitions.- Incidence of Spontaneous Abortions.- Incidence of Ectopic Pregnancies.- Incidence of Heterotopic Pregnancies.- Incidence of Disappearing Gestational Sacs.- Is There a Higher Abortion Risk Following ART?.- 3 Incidence of Chromosomal Abnormalities in Abortions After Assisted Reproduction.- Monosomy.- Trisomy.- Triploidy.- Tetraploidy.- Structural Chromosomal Anomalies.- Mosaics.- Factors that Might Influence the Incidence of Chromosomal Anomalies.- Conclusion.- 4 Assisted Reproduction and Prenatal Diagnosis.- Invasive Prenatal Diagnosis.- Non-invasive Prenatal Diagnosis.- Conclusion.- 5 Obstetric Outcome of Pregnancies After Assisted Reproduction.- Singletons Conceived by ART Versus Spontaneously Conceived Pregnancies.- Singleton Versus Multiple Pregnancies After IVF or IVF/ICSI.- Multiple Pregnancies After ART Versus Spontaneously Conceived Multiple Pregnancies.- Higher Order Multiple Pregnancies Following ART.- Obstetric Outcome of Pregnancies After Cryopreservation.- Conclusion.- 6 Oocyte Donation.- Oocyte Recipients and Donors.- Obstetric Outcome in Oocyte Donation Pregnancies.- The Impact of Age.- Conclusion.- 7 Congenital Malformations After ART.- Congenital Malformations After IVF.- Congenital Malformations After ICSI.- Congenital Malformations After SUZI.- Congenital Malformations After GIFT or Intrauterine Insemination.- Congenital Malformations After Cryopreservation.- An Increased Risk for Certain Malformations.- Conclusion.- 8 Perinatal Outcome and Follow-up of Children Born from ART.- Descriptive Studies Without Control Groups.- Controlled Studies.- Follow-up of Children From Cryopreserved Embryos.- Conclusion.- 9 Development of Children of Lesbian Mothers After Using Assisted Reproduction Techniques.- Development of Children of Lesbian Mothers in General.- Children Conceived Via Donor Insemination by Lesbian Mothers.- Conclusion.- 10 Development of Children and Family Structure After IVF and Gamete Donation.- Children and Their Parents After IVF.- Children and Their Parents After Gamete Donation.- Conclusion.- 11 General Conclusions.- Abbreviation List.- References.

From the reviews:

"This book represents work of immense importance to those involved in assisted human conception treatments. ... This book is an excellent reference source on the effects of assisted conception treatment. It will be consulted by clinical and scientific investigators alike and perhaps by general readers. ... the author must be commended on the immense amount of time that must have been spent in attending to the fine detail and collating the data on pregnancy parturition and early development." (Peter Mcfaul, The Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Vol. 6 (1), 2004)