Egg donation

Egg donation: assisted reproduction technique This infertility treatment is the last step in the assisted reproduction techniques ladder. There are a lot of women whose fertility problem is the lack of egg reserve or, the low quality of the eggs. For these cases, the only possibility of reaching the dream of having a baby is through egg donation. To perform this technique, it is necessary to have an in vitro fertilization in an assisted reproduction center. This center should have an egg donation program. Candidates for egg donation: Aged women After trying 3 cycles of in vitro fertilization Women with ovarian failure, menopause or ovarian surgery Repeat abortions Women with low quality eggs Genetic and chromosomal abnormalities In vitro fertilization with egg donation is the fertilization of the donor’s eggs with the father’s sperm, in order to obtain embryos that will be transferred to the mother’s uterus. This technique has allowed thousands of couples to reach the dream of having a family. There are lot of doubts and, in some cases, even rejection from couples around the eggs donation technique; this is totally normal. As the couples get to know the details and other couple’s experiences, their perspective changes. The couples that decide to try this technique feel very grateful of having had this option to conceive a child. Show more Choosing the egg donor The egg donation is totally anonymous. The objective of the selection is to find a donor with similar physical characteristics to the mother. The donors are young and healthy women with no fertility problems. They are subject of medical, gynecologic and psychological tests in order to discard any sickness. Blood tests and, if necessary, genetic tests are performed to minimize the risk of any infectious or hereditary sicknesses. In vitro fertilization procedure with egg donation The in vitro fertilization with egg donation procedure involves 6 main stages: Endometrial preparation of the receptor Some days after the patient’s period, she will start taking medication orally or through patches. She will go for check ups every 5 to 7 days so, through an ultrasound, we can confirm that the endometrium is developing properly, in order to receive the embryo that she will have transferred. Ovarian stimulation of the donor It consists in stimulating the donor’s ovaries with oral or injected medicines, so she can produce a good number of eggs. When it is observed through ultrasound that the follicles reach the right size, this is the moment when they are ready to ovulate with an injection. The doctor will indicate this exact moment. The eggs extraction will be done 36 hours later, just before ovulation. It is important to synchronize the timing of the endometrial preparation of the receptor and the donor’s stimulation. Show more Laboratoy Sperm preparation The day of the donor’s egg extraction, just a few hours before the procedure, the father’s semen sample is prepared. This sample is prepared in the andrology lab in order to select the best sperm. Once selected, they are prepared to fertilize the egg. Egg ultrasound-guided aspiration: donor’s eggs extraction Before the ovulation, the donor’s eggs are extracted and placed in a culture media inside special incubators in the embryology lab. Eggs fertilization and embryo culture Once the father’s sperm and the donor’s eggs are ready, the fertilization is done in the embryology lab. The fertilization can be done in 2 ways: Conventional in vitro fertilization: in a drop of culture media, the selected sperm and eggs are placed together. The fertilization should happen naturally. Intracitoplasmatic sperm injection: with the help of micro pipettes and a special microscope, an individual sperm is injected into each individual egg. Show more Embryo transfer to the mother After 3 to 5 days in the culture media, the embryos are transferred inside the mother’s uterus. This procedure doesn’t need anesthesia, lasts a couple of minutes and the discomfort is similar to the one of a Pap test. 15 days later, a pregnancy test is performed. The embryos that are not transferred are vitrified (frozen) to preserve them for later use, reducing the need for additional IVF treatment cycles. Show more