Pregnancy and Birth After Assisted Reproductive Technologies

It is a pleasure to see this book in print. It represents work on an immense importance to assisted human conception. Numerous books have presented virtually every aspect of follicular growth, fertilization, male and female sterility and implantation.This is among the rare books dedicated to pr- nancy, birth and infant growth. Since the introduction of IVF, it has been clear that various problems could be associated with pregnancy after assisted human conception. The first clinical IVF pregnancy after the transfer of a 5-day blastocyst turned out to be ectopic, and this subjecthas neverbeen farfrom debates on the safety of assi- ed human conception ever since. Ectopic and heterotopic pregnancies were two factors stressed in early days of wor- wide IVF, and multiple pregnancies emerged as perhaps as an even more serious problem as high degrees of ovarian sti- lation began to be practised in some clinics. These chapters add the experience of the author, working in a large German IVF team, to discussions on these topics in this book.