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Is IVF harmful to health?

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2 fertility expert(s) answered this question

Answer from: Raúl Olivares, MD

Gynaecologist, Medical Director & Owner
Barcelona IVF
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IVF should not be harmful to the patients. As long as you manage the case properly, and you make the right decisions and identify, which patients might have an increased risk of the hyperstimulation syndrome. IVF is a very easy procedure in which the risks are very low. There hasn’t been described any mid-term or long-term side effects, as well. The thing is that when you go through an IVF, the stimulation that you are going to receive is going to be strong but for just a couple of weeks, in comparison to the hormone stimulation that the pregnancy means is going to be very little.

Doing the proper management, doing the scans, identifying the risk, of course,  you need to have expertise when you do the egg collection just to make sure that you reduce the risk of having bleeding or things like that.  In normal circumstances, the patients should rest just  24 hours on the day of the egg collection, but it’s a more preventive thing than not really something that it’s absolutely necessary especially with regard to the risk of bleeding, but that’s it. Other than that,  patients should be able to lead a pretty normal life during the process before and after the egg collection.

Answer from: Santiago Eduardo Novoa, MD

Gynaecologist, specialised in Reproductive Medicine
Instituto iGin
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IVF in general is a safe procedure. There are some risks that have to be known by the patient and they should be acknowledged. Risks for mothers are during the treatment which includes thrombosis, ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome, infections or bleeding; for the babies, most of the babies are like in natural pregnancies they are normal babies. They are slightly increased to fetal malformations; for the couples: mothers and fathers going through IVF process is not always easy because not always the pregnancy will arrive or arrive as soon as it is expected so psychological follow up is sometimes advisable.

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Can IVF be harmful to anyone involved in the treatment process - intended mother, partner, baby?

It is quite common for couples to be worried about the IVF side effects. There are always some risks involved, like increased risk of multiple births sometimes, among other things, but generally, IVF is a safe procedure. Below you’ll find some answers from our Fertility experts to dispel some of your doubts. Does IVF cause any health problems? Are there any long-term health risks of ART? Is there a chance that IVF will damage your ovaries?

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