Answer from:
Current evidence suggests that there are no long term side effects after IVF. IVF itself is a process that takes one month. During this month, there are only two weeks in which the patient is going to be exposed to strong stimulation, which is going to be very short.
For many years, it was thought that the use of the stimulations could increase the risk of problems like ovarian cancer, for example, but nowadays, after proper studies have been done, it has been confirmed that the problem of these ovarian cancers is related to the fact that the patients are infertile. When these studies were done, there was one branch of patients that had undergone IVF and patients who had their babies naturally. It was seen that there was a higher risk of ovarian cancer in the infertile group. When inside this group, they created two branches, those that underwent the stimulation but had a baby and those that have undergone the stimulation but weren’t successful – they confirmed that the group who got pregnant, the risk was exactly the same as in patients who got pregnant naturally.
Therefore, the main difference between the two groups was not the fact that the patients had been exposed to gonadotropins or stimulations or things like that. The main difference was whether the patients who underwent IVF had a baby or not. The main factor for these long-time side effects is related to infertility, not the IVF itself.
Answer from:
Speaking about effects of IVF injections, we now know and have experience in terms of there being no side effects and no long term effects. We have been using IVF protocols for many years now and of course in the whole process we have been cautious of side effects or long term effects on patients and on newborns. We now have plenty of experience with all of these years that tell us there is no long term effect on the patient or the child. It is very safe to go through IVF protocols and there are no extra risks.
Answer from:
Long time risks are principally for the mother, if there are any risks really. At the beginning of the implementation of IVF procedure there were some concerns about the relationship of high hormone levels and increased risk of cancer, principally breast cancer for example. Latest investigation shows that there is no such relation and at this moment we consider that the IVF does not increase the risk of female cancers: ovarian, uterine, cervical or breast. Time that a patient is exposed to high levels of hormones is a week or 10 days and then the levels during the pregnancies are even higher that the levels that are achieved during the treatment. There are no long term side effects in the patient.
Answer from:
Generally, IVF is a very straight forward water and procedure without any risks to the woman. There have been many studies that have tried to find any long term effects of IVF on the health of the woman. First, the medication someone takes to stimulate the ovaries can cause some side effects like abdominal bloatedness, fluid detention, rarely headaches. By any means, the hormones that increase the ovarian stimulation like estrogen can cause in IVF or during pregnancy an increase in the thickness of blood, which again can increase blood clots, but no study showed that this can cause a long-term effect.
Some studies compared IVF with an increased risk of stroke later in life or cardiovascular problems, but they have not clarified if that was due to pre-existing problems like obesity or diabetes or the procedure itself. Regarding cancer and IVF, some initial studies have shown some small increase in ovarian and breast cancer, but all the studies that came after that have not shown any link between ovarian and breast cancer.
A Swedish study done a few years ago even showed the reduced risk of those health issues in women who had IVF before. Of course, we need to take very good care of women, especially, those who are more than 37 years old and are going through the IVF process because there can be an increased risk of breast cancer if there is pre-existing cancer, which was not identified or strong family history. This is why in a woman over 37 years old, it is ideal to ask for mammography, and we need to consider family history as well.
Now, are there any risks coming from IVF? There can be very rarely hyperstimulation syndrome, which can be quite dangerous, but this is something that can be dealt with. Especially with a freeze all techniques, special protocols, antagonist, we usually put patients with PCOS during IVF protocol and with careful management of the IVF cycle so that we can have zero chance of hyperstimulation. Nowadays, if we have hyperstimulation in IVF, it’s something that shouldn’t be done because it can be prevented by the right doses and the right protocols, and freeze all technique that can be used without compromising the chances of IVF.
Finally, at the time of egg collection, it is a minor procedure, like all minor procedures, there is a low risk of causing an injury to the bowel or the vessels, but an experienced reproductive medicine specialist will have a low risk of causing this sort of injuries. Also, a lot of care needs to be provided to an obese woman or woman with severe rectovaginal endometriosis where the egg collection has to be done very carefully.
Answer from:
We don’t think there’s many long-term side effects at all. A question I’m commonly asked is because we’re collecting all these eggs, does this mean I’m going to go through the menopause earlier and we know that definitely doesn’t happen with IVF and the reason why is most of the eggs that are collected, would never have left the ovary in the first place. Women lose eggs all the time, even from being a fetus themselves. You have the most eggs before you’re even born and when you start your first period, you’ve lost most of the eggs that you’re born with and then, gradually over time, they go down until you go through the menopause. IVF makes use of eggs that would never have even left your ovary and so it doesn’t speed up the risk of the age of menopause at all. There’s been other studies going – is it linked with breast cancer or ovarian cancer, the stimulation medications and we’re reasonably confident now that these medications don’t increase the risk of these cancers at all and they’re often used for a short amount of time, even having multiple cycles doesn’t increase those risks at all. So while there’s always potentially risks of any treatment, we’re not aware of anything at the moment that causes any long-term side effects.
