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20 January 2011

Summary of request

The Authority was asked for information about reported complications associated with ICSI treatment, specifically (1) the number of children born following ICSI in the UK, (2) the percentage of those with reported birth abnormalities and (3) the link between the ICSI treatment and reported birth abnormalities.

HFEA response

Information about ICSI and associated risks is provided on the HFEA website (see: http://www.hfea.gov.uk/icsi-risks.html). 

Information about births following ICSI treatment, including the number of those births with reported birth abnormalities, can be found in the anonymised register, published on the HFEA’s website (see: http://www.hfea.gov.uk/5874.html).  Treatments in which ICSI was used as the method of fertilisation can be identified from the column headed ‘Specific Treatment Type’ and observed birth abnormalities are recorded in the columns headed ‘1st [etc.] Foetal Heart - Birth Congenital Abnormalities’.  As this information is reasonably accessible via the HFEA website, it is exempt from disclosure under section 21 FOIA and the request was, accordingly, refused. 

The anonymised register includes the most recent verified data that is stored in the HFEA’s statutory register at the date of publication.  Data sets for more recent periods will be added once these have been subjected to the HFEAs’ verification procedures.  Outcomes up to 31 December 2008 have been subject to a preliminary verification process, and the centres that supplied the data have been asked to confirm their accuracy, for which they remain responsible.  Please note that the information in our database may be subject to change as licensed centres notify us of information that updates or corrects information they have previously supplied.  Cycles where the woman treated is under 18 or over 50 have not been included to protect confidentiality of the patients concerned.

The Authority’s Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee considered the HFEA’s guidance on ICSI at its meeting of 12 May 2009.  Papers and minutes relating to this meeting are available on the HFEA’s website.  In particular, the paper at http://www.hfea.gov.uk/3230.html  summarises research into the risks associated with ICSI.

Page last updated: 16 August 2012

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