Objective: To review the current status and new trends in assisted reproduction.
Design: The literature on intrauterine insemination, IVF, ICSI, MESA/TESE, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, cryopreservation, in vitro maturation, cloning and stem cells.
Setting: Assisted Reproduction Centre, Ist Medical Faculty of Charles University Prague and General Hospital Prague, Apolinárská 18, 128,00, Prague 2, Czech Republic.
Results: IUI, IVF, ICSI also in combination with MESA/TESE are widely used relatively high effective procedures. According to Czech Republic Assisted Reproduction Registry, the pregnancy rate per transfer using IVF, ICSI is 25%, 30% respectively. Cryopreservation of sperm and embryos is a basic part of assisted reproduction, the result with oocytes freezing are still not satisfactory. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis is performed in few countries only due to technical barriers and ethical restrictions. Other methods like cloning, nuclear transfer, embryotherapy or gene manipulation using embryonic stem cells are still only subjects of research.
Conclusion: During the last ten years, assisted reproduction showed rapid development in a number of treated couples and the spectrum of used methods changed radically.