Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 23, 2026
Reconstruct Human Retinoblastoma In Vitro
Published on: October 11, 2022
In vitro fertilization and childhood retinoblastoma
Brian D Bradbury1, Hershel Jick
1The Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, Boston University School of Medicine, 11 Muzzey Street, Lexington, MA 02421, USA. bdb2@bu.edu
Aims:
To estimate the frequency of childhood retinoblastoma among children conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Methods:
Using the United Kingdom-based General Practice Research Database (GPRD), we identified all live births, cases of retinoblastoma and IVF procedures occurring between January 1989 and December 2001.
Results:
We identified 0 cases of retinoblastoma among 176 children conceived by IVF (Risk = 0/176, one-sided 97.5% CI 0, 0.02) and 24 cases of retinoblastoma diagnosed before age 5 years among 358,094 children not conceived by IVF (6.7 cases per 100,000 births [95% CI 4.5, 10]).
Conclusions:
These data provide some reassurance that children born as a result of IVF are not at markedly increased risk of retinoblastoma.
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