Effect of assisted reproductive technology on fetal brain development assessed by prenatal ultrasonography

The aim was to evaluate whether assisted reproductive technology (ART) affects the development of the fetal central nervous system (CNS).

This study was carried out on women with singleton pregnancies, including 427 women who became pregnant by ART and 32,859 women with natural conceptions (NCs). The cavum septum pellucidum (CSP) width, transverse cerebellar diameter (TCD), cisterna magna (CM) depth, and lateral ventricle width were measured by ultrasound for 72 normal ART fetuses and 201 normal NC fetuses. The malformation rate of CNS was determined for both groups.

In both groups, significant positive correlations with gestational age were found for CSP width (ART: r=0.7841, NC: r=0.7864; P<0.0001) and for TCD (ART: r=0.7698, NC: r=0.6926; P<0.0001). However, neither CM depth nor lateral ventricle width showed a significant correlation with gestational age. None of the measured parameters showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups. The CNS malformation detection rate was 1.2% (5/427) in ART fetuses and 0.9% (296/32,859) in NC fetuses. It did not reach statistical significance (P>0.05).

The development and malformation rate of the fetal CNS is not significantly different between ART and NC fetuses, thus, ART does not affect the development of the fetal brain.