title: Association between Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and assisted reproductive technology: a case series of 19 patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  An association between assisted reproductive technique (ART) and specific imprinting mutations, such as Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS), has recently been documented. Based on experiments in farm animals that demonstrated an association between alterations in culture media during ART and large offspring syndrome, we hypothesized that the culture media could be implicated as a common factor among the children with BWS conceived after ART.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective case series.
  
  
  METHODS
  Registry from Academic Medical Center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nineteen children born after ART were identified within the registry.
  
  
  METHODS
  Demographics of patients, type of ART, culture media, IVF parameters.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve of the 19 medical records from the reproductive endocrine centers were successfully obtained. Ten of 12 mothers of children with BWS had IVF, but no single, consistent culture media was used in this group. Half of the patients underwent IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI; n = 5), whereas the other half had routine IVF. One child was conceived through clomiphene citrate (CC) stimulation and artificial insemination, whereas another patient conceived through gonadotropin stimulation with intrauterine insemination (IUI). The gonadotropin dosage and quantity of embryos transferred also varied significantly. The only consistent finding was that all 12 women received some type of ovarian stimulation medication.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Large epidemiologic studies are needed to further study the association between BWS and ART.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Aimee S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Kelle H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Moley
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wangler
authors.forename: Andrew P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Feinberg
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Debaun
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001506:Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics; D001757:Blastomeres; D004624:Embryo Transfer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010062:Ovulation Induction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010641:Phenotype; D011247:Pregnancy; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data