About this Research Topic

Background

Reproductive medicine makes constant new achievements with the development of new therapeutic options. We have, therefore, decided to provide an update with a short series of review articles in the most salient recent achievements, accomplished over the past few years.

In the four decades of ART history, several landmarks have stood out as turning points that have durably changed the medical management of infertility. It is certain that these breakthroughs have recently struck impact on our daily practice infertility management, so they deserve sets of reviews and updates that are gathered here.

One of the primary adjuncts of ART, ovarian stimulation (OS), is still standing today as the most effective measure ever implemented for improving ART outcomes. Yet, the equation that commands the control of the number of oocytes retrieved and embryo transferred has been drastically upended by access to embryo-vitrification. Consequently, we also welcome reviews which address the new perspectives that reign over this domain.

Furthermore, our understanding of endometrial receptivity and its hormonal control has been updated through the study of euploid-embryo-transfers and its relationship with inflammation. New looks at these perspectives will help to guide the daily practice of ART.

The advent of ART designed for tubal infertility rapidly gave birth to two primary adjuncts, donor-egg ART and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) for treating ovarian and male factor infertility, respectively. Uterine factor infertility (UFI) remains, however, an unmet therapy – the last frontier of infertility – for which a new option – uterine transplantation – has recently emerged. Nowadays, several aspects of UFI are being reviewed, that specifically look at cases suffering from an absence of the uterus – congenital or acquired – and/or definitive non-functionality of the uterus (Asherman Syndrome).

We can undoubtedly state that today most infertility problems can be effectively treated by Assisted Reproductive Technique (ART); a fact that has remarkably reduced the number of couples who remain childless. Although it seems useful, several recent achievements of molecular biology, such as the introduction of gene editing and nuclear transplants, raise various ethical issues, which we want to include in this collection, as the other side to the debate must be considered as well.

Therefore, in this Research Topic, we want to collect articles that provide a comprehensive update to the effectiveness of ARTs, their application, and concerns that might arise with their use.

Keywords: uterus transplantation, robotic surgery, genetic editing, IVF failure, infertility workup

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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