Prenatal Care after Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Background: With advances in assisted reproductive technologies(ART), the numbers of women looking for infertility servicesare increasing. Of all pregnancies conceived after ARTtreatment, ۶۳% is conducted by Intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI) and the use of this procedure is continuing to increase.Results of follow-up studies on children born after ICSIshows an increased risk of congenital malformations, pretermbirth and obstetric complications in ICSI and IVF singletonscompared with naturally conceived children. However, it issuggested that these risks may be associated with pre-existentfemale medical conditions, age-related factors or diagnosticand operative procedures of infertility management. In linewith these results, it is expected to consider more carefully antenatalcare in these mothers. This article provides an overviewof prenatal care after ART.Materials and Methods: A literature search was conductedthrough PubMed.Results: Many ART patients are worried about the possible lossof their pregnancy and this might result in a very serious prenatalcare of these patients. The high number of ultrasound examinationsand health care service visits are indicative of the doctors’efforts to evaluate these pregnancies carefully. The dataof a prospective controlled multicenter study report that longermean duration of antenatal hospitalization and higher costs ofhealth care in the IVF mothers compared to the spontaneouslyconceived singleton pregnancies may be due to the higher riskof preterm labour and bleeding during pregnancy. Accordingto studies, consumption of supplementary iodine and periconceptionalfolic acid is found to be inferior to standard in patientsunder ART. Data on the use of vitamins and medicationsin pregnancies after ART is rare. Smoking and drinking alcoholin pregnancy leads to harmful effects on the fetus which areirreversible with no therapeutic options and the only therapyis prevention. Regular exercise during pregnancy can improvephysical fitness and can have multiple health benefits for motherand fetus.Conclusion: More ICSI mothers use the facilities of antenatalcare with regular prenatal visits and with systematic ultrasoundexaminations as compared to those who conceive spontaneously.The attention ought to be paid to counselling, and ICSImothers should be well informed about the necessity of: prophylacticuse of folic acid, use of iodide supplementation duringpregnancy, quit smoking and alcohol consumption beforepregnancy and avoiding illegal drug abuse during pregnancy.

کلیدواژه ها:

Prenatal Care ، Assisted Reproductive Technologies ، Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection