Children born from the process of in vitro fertilization ( IVF ) increased risk of developing cancer . Research results of scientists from Denmark indicates that babies born from fertility treatment outcomes 33 percent higher chance of suffering from cancer since she was a childhood .
Types of cancer are also not arbitrary . According to research , these babies are 65 percent greater risk of suffering from blood cancer ( leukemia ) , and 88 percent greater brain cancer and central nervous system .
IVF technique is a method that has been used on a large scale in couples who experience fertility problems . In the UK , around 18 thousand babies born from this technique every year . In this technique , a woman's eggs are removed from the uterus and then fertilized sperm , in a special environment . Products of conception then implanted in the woman's uterus .
Research published in the journal Fertility and Sterility is reviewing 25 studies from 12 developed countries including the U.S. , Britain , Denmark , France , and Israel from 1990 to 2010 .
" The results indicate a link between fertility treatment during conception techniques , the risk of cancer in the resulting offspring , " says researcher Dr . Marie Hargreave , of the Danish Cancer Society Research Centre , Copenhagen .
Research indicates , fertility treatments cause changes in the function of specific genes such as genes passed down from parent to child , or also called genomic imprinting . This condition can be triggered by several aspects during the process of therapy and treatment such as exposure to hormones , semen preparation ( cement ) , embryo freezing , embryo growth conditions , or delay conception .
Even so , researchers also can not deny the possibility of an increased risk of infertility due to cancer are experienced parents , and instead result of treatment .
According to investigators , the etiology ( origin ) of cancer in childhood is not yet widely known , but there are allegations that fertility treatments have a role . One possibility is that cancer can be triggered by the use of anti - estrogen drug that stimulates ovulation . The same drug diethylstilbestrol given to pregnant women to prevent the occurrence of complications . The latter drug was associated with cases of cancer in children . In a statement , the researchers stressed that the overall risk of cancer among children born from fertility treatment remains low .
" Couples who are infertile may have increased the risk of defective offspring , which then decreases the risk through medical therapy , " the researchers said .
In this research , most babies born from IVF methods . However, some of them using other methods such as intra - cytoplasmic sperm injection or intrauterine insemination .
Chairman of the British Fertility Society , Dr . Allen Pacey argues despite research showing an increased risk in IVF , but their numbers are still relatively small . " Relationship is very small and is not yet possible to say , whether the cancer is a consequence of IVF because of infertility or parents , " he said .
