In vitro fertilization (IVF) technology has been widely used in clinical medical practice. With the father of IVF, British scientist Robert Edwards, receiving the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2011, the technique has become widely known in every household. Edwards, the father of IVF, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2011, and the technology has become widely known in thousands of households. In vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET for short) is the standard academic name for IVF. In the past, test tubes were often used in scientific research, so it is commonly known as IVF. Specifically, it refers to the process of removing an egg from a female patient, fertilizing the egg with sperm in vitro, and transferring the embryo, which has developed to a certain stage in vitro, into the woman’s uterine cavity, where it will implant and develop into a fetus. Later, for patients with severe oligospermia, hypospermia and teratospermia, scientists invented the intracytoplasmic single sperm injection technique, the second generation IVF technique. For patients with genetic disorders, scientists removed one or two oocytes from early embryos, performed genetic analysis, and implemented genetic diagnosis before embryo implantation, which is the third generation of IVF technology. From 1978, when the world’s first IVF baby, Louis Brown, was born in the United Kingdom, the world’s first IVF baby was born. Since 1978, when the world’s first IVF baby, Louis Brown, was born in the United Kingdom, there have been close to 5 million IVF babies worldwide. While the interest in IVF is growing, there is a greater concern about the safety of IVF technology. Does it affect the child’s intelligence and emotional intelligence? Now that Louis? Brown has already given birth to a child, and more than 30 years of IVF development and many scientific studies have shown that IVF is safe, which is an important reason why the father of IVF was able to win the Nobel Prize. Please join me in understanding some of the safety issues in the use of IVF technology. First, is IVF technology harmful to women? The use of IVF technology requires the use of ovulation promotion techniques, which often stimulate the development of multiple follicles at the same time. If too many follicles develop at the same time, such as more than 30, it can cause ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which is the appearance of signs and symptoms such as abdominal distention, ascites, and low urine output. This is due to some women being overly sensitive to ovulation-promoting drugs, among other reasons. Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is a disease that can heal on its own. Most women do not require special treatment, and only very few patients require hospitalization with a good outcome. In recent years, this phenomenon has been decreasing year by year with the gradual optimization of clinical protocols and the reduction of the dosage of ovulation-promoting drugs used. Another side effect of IVF technology is multiple pregnancy. In addition to increasing the physical burden of pregnant women during pregnancy, multiple pregnancies are also prone to preterm labor, miscarriage, and various obstetric complications, which can cause physical and psychological trauma to women. However, with the increasing maturity of single embryo transfer, this situation will decrease day by day. 2. Do birth defects increase in IVF babies compared to babies born from natural pregnancies? In 2005, scientists in the United States conducted a study comparing the incidence of birth defects in 1,500 babies born with IVF technology, 340 babies born with artificial insemination technology and 8,400 naturally conceived babies, and found that the defect rates of the three were 6.2%, 5.0% and 4.4% respectively. The reason for the slightly higher rate of birth defects in IVF is that women who use IVF for pregnancy are generally older, have more primary diseases, and other unfavorable factors that can affect embryonic and fetal development and accordingly increase the genetic defects in infants. In addition to the above studies, there are conflicting reports on the birth defect rate of IVF, and there is great controversy on whether it increases birth defects. The second generation IVF technique (i.e., intracytoplasmic single sperm injection) involves the injection of sperm into the egg, and many are concerned about the tendency to damage the egg and cause developmental abnormalities in the child, but most studies have not found an increase in birth defects due to this technique. There are only isolated reports in the literature of a slight increase in the rate of undescended testes in male infants born with the application of second-generation IVF techniques, but the condition can be resolved with minor surgery. The effect of in vitro culture on post-genetic modification of embryos has been increasingly recognized in recent years, and some rare imprinted genetic disorders such as Burr-Wey syndrome and Angel syndrome have been associated with IVF techniques, but the overall incidence of these imprinted genetic disorders is less than 1:12,000 and the probability is very low. In some ways, IVF can even reduce the incidence of genetic diseases, for example, by using the third generation IVF technology – pre-implantation genetic disease diagnosis – many human genetic diseases can be prevented from being passed on to offspring, such as thalassemia, congenital stupidity, etc., which cannot be achieved through natural conception. Thirdly, compared to a naturally conceived baby, are IVF babies smart? Are there any emotional intelligence problems? Are IVF babies smart? Do IVF babies have emotional intelligence problems? This is also a great concern for expectant fathers and mothers. Earlier scientists had found that IVF babies had slightly higher rates of sex chromosome aneuploidy and structural abnormalities, and slightly lower intellectual development than naturally conceived babies. In recent years, however, scientists at Oxford University in England have found that IVF babies at age 3 have higher cognitive abilities than naturally conceived babies. More and more recent studies have found that children born with IVF at ages 5, 8, and 10 years old have no difference, or even a slight advantage, in emotional intelligence, IQ, and motor skills over children born with natural conception. U.S. scientists looked at 423 IVF students born between the ages of 8 and 17, compared to 372 naturally conceived students, and found that the 8-year-olds had higher mental functioning than naturally conceived children and that the 10-year-olds had better balance than naturally conceived children. Further studies found that the parents of the high-performing IVF babies had at least a college degree and the mothers were older. It is therefore believed that the level of education of the parents and the age of the mother have a greater impact on the cognitive ability of the offspring than the method of fertilization. IV. Will the infertility of the father and mother be passed on to the next generation? Couples with genetic predisposition such as oligozoospermia and polycystic ovary syndrome may worry about passing the disease to the next generation. In fact, there is no need to worry too much about the fertility of the next generation. The current IVF technology already allows most couples to fulfill their dream of becoming parents, and it is believed that with the continuous development of scientific research in the future, more and more people will be able to realize this wish. Although modern medicine cannot guarantee that every IVF baby will be 100% problem-free (in fact, natural births cannot guarantee that the newborn will be 100% healthy), we can say with certainty that the majority of IVF babies are normal and healthy, and that the risks associated with IVF technology are not much higher than those associated with natural births. For couples who are unable to conceive naturally, IVF technology is undoubtedly the greatest boon to them. With the advantages far outweighing the disadvantages, why don’t you give it a try and work towards a happy life with a lovely baby?