Assisted reproductive technologies and the children’s heart

Abstract

The active use of assisted reproductive technologies has allowed us to achieve very impressive results, which allows us to consider this method as one of the effective approaches to infertility treatment. More than eight million children have been born worldwide with the help of assisted reproduction to date. At the same time, assisted reproductive technologies are an important risk factor, since long-term consequences for the morphology and function of the child’s heart can predispose to premature cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. These facts require a revision of traditional ideas about the long-term safety of their use, the formation of special registers. The creation of registers of the use of assisted reproductive technologies optimizes the process of long-term monitoring of children born with their use. The analysis of experimental and clinical studies presented in the review creates a theoretical basis for understanding the subtle mechanisms of the formation of postnatal health in children born prematurely and in the process of using inflammatory reproductive technologies. This review of the literature will allow doctors of various specialties (embryologists, reproductologists – obstetricians-gynecologists, neonatologists, pediatricians, therapists, cardiologists) and producers of culture media to significantly expand traditional ideas about the impact of assisted reproductive technologies on the health of the cardiovascular system in childhood, since even small changes in the conditions of cultivation and the composition of the culture medium for the embryo, the peculiarities of the course of pregnancy can have significant delayed effects on the health of children, born with the use of assisted reproductive technologies. Therefore, it is obvious the importance of monitoring children of this clinical group in order to further clarify possible long-term health consequences, a deeper understanding of the fundamental patterns of postnatal development and early diagnosis of subclinical disorders of the cardiovascular system.