Assisted reproductive technologies and multiple gestations

Since the birth of the first IVF baby in England in 1978, ART has matured significantly to become a standard practice for infertility clinics for many different reasons worldwide. Success rates have increased as the knowledge base has increased in terms of patient selection, culture media refinements, and procedural techniques and equipment. As the success rates of ART have climbed in the last 25 years, so have the multiple birth rates, primarily owing to the transfer of multiple embryos. Fertility clinics are now recognizing the need to address this risk and are placing emphasis on selecting methods to reduce the rate of multiple gestations. In the future, one can expect to see strategies such as single embryo transfer and preimplantation genetic diagnosis becoming standard practices for many, if not most, infertility patients.