Medical practice in the area of reproductive medicine

Who makes use of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or insemination? What types of testing are performed on embryos? How many births result from IVF treatments? Answers are provided by statistics from medical practice.

Married couples who are infertile or are carriers of a serious genetic disease have access to reproductive medicine. Essentially two types of assisted reproductive technique are available: insemination and in vitro fertilisation (IVF) followed by embryo transfer.

In the case of insemination, sperm cells are introduced into the uterus. The sperm cells are obtained either from the partner or from a sperm donor.

In the case of IVF, an oocyte is fertilised by a sperm cell outside the woman’s body. An embryo is thus produced in vitro and subsequently transferred to the uterus.

Types of testing

Before being transferred to the uterus, an embryo produced by IVF may undergo genetic testing, using techniques of preimplantation genetic testing (PGT). The embryo can be analysed either for specific genetic defects (genetic mutations) or for structural or numerical chromosomal defects. A distinction is therefore made between PGT-M (preimplantation genetic testing for monogenetic disorder), PGT-SR (preimplantation genetic testing for structural rearrangement) and PGT-A (preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy). PGT-M and PGT-SR are combined under the term PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis).

PGD is used in cases where couples are predisposed to a severe hereditary disease or a hereditary chromosomal disorder. On the basis of these tests, the parents can select an embryo not affected by any predisposition to severe disease for transfer to the uterus. PGT-A is used, in particular, in cases where a couple has already experienced several miscarriages or stillbirths, or several cycles of IVF have been unsuccessful. Screening is designed to increase the success rate of IVF treatment.

Another type of testing is polar body diagnosis. The polar body is a cell formed during oocyte maturation which quickly degenerates. Polar body diagnosis is mainly used to detect abnormalities of chromosome number in oocytes.

Presentation of results

The results of monitoring are published in the form of charts. These are divided into four sections, which can be found on the corresponding subpages:

In the section Assisted reproductive techniques data can be found on couples using insemination or IVF, on the reasons for which these techniques were used, and on the types of preimplantation diagnosis performed.
The section Handling of embryos from in vitro fertilisation provides information on the production, testing and further use of embryos.
The section Pregnancy and birth after in vitro fertilisation shows how many pregnancies and births resulted from IVF treatment and how many multiple or premature births occurred.
The section Preservation of reproductive cells shows how many people had their reproductive cells or tissue preserved as a precautionary measure.

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