Informed consent in assisted reproductive technology: Implications for pediatric clinicians.
Mary E Graham, Shannon Blee, Rebecca D Pentz and 3 others
PMID 39552201WHAT IT FOUND
This review urges clinicians to recognize the emotional and financial burden of assisted reproduction.
When assessing developmentally delayed children, understanding the parents' journey and the limitations of pre-implantation genetic testing can improve communication and trust.
Key findings
01Parents of children conceived via assisted reproductive technology may experience heightened guilt and anxiety if developmental delays emerge, often misattributing the cause to the procedure itself.
02Pre-implantation genetic testing results are not diagnostic for postnatal health, and mosaic embryo transfers do not necessarily indicate a higher rate of clinically significant health conditions in live births.
03Comprehensive developmental evaluations should include sensitive inquiry into the pregnancy history and gamete donation status, as parents may have misunderstood previous genetic testing limitations.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This is a narrative review, not a systematic review, so it does not provide a comprehensive or unbiased synthesis of all available evidence. The paper discusses hypothetical scenarios and general trends rather than reporting specific outcomes from a defined patient cohort. The authors acknowledge that long-term health outcomes for ART-conceived offspring, particularly those from mosaic embryo transfers, are not yet fully established.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that developmental delays in ART-conceived children are caused by the procedure or by 'failed' genetic testing. The review states that most developmental issues are independent of the ART process, and pre-implantation genetic testing is not a diagnostic guarantee of future health.