Egg Donation / Sperm Donation/ Embryo Donation

Egg Donation-

Patients to whom egg donation is recommended-

• Women who have a uterus but whose ovaries do not produce eggs due to premature menopause.
• Women who have had their ovaries removed as a treatment for cancer, infection or endometriosis.
• Women whose ovaries were damaged by chemotherapy or radiotherapy for cancer.
• Women who were born without functioning ovaries (Turner's Syndrome).
• Women whose ovaries are resistant to stimulation and women who have had poor ovarian response to hormonal stimulation in the past.
• Women who have a high risk of passing on genetic disorders to their offspring.
• Women with recurrent IVF failures due to poor response to stimulation by fertility drugs, or poor egg quality.
• Older women who have poorly functioning ovaries or who have delayed starting a family.

There is an acute shortage of egg donors and many couples wait for several years to benefit from donated eggs. Some couples are fortunate enough to have friends and family willing to donate eggs as a "known donor". However most are not so fortunate and thus they are likely to be 'in the queue' waiting for sufficient anonymous donors to volunteer their eggs.

There are various aspects to consider when "EGG donation" is the only option for couples with infertility. A couple needs to decide which way they want to go and the implications of their decisions. They have to undergo conselling at this stage and should take time to think, as this decision is very important and cannot be taken under emotional pressure only.

The Egg Donor-

There is no such thing as a standard donor. What they have in common is a desire to help people to achieve the pregnancy they otherwise couldn't have.

The criteria to become a donor could be, :

• No egg donors should expect a financial or other incentive to donate.
• Egg donors may or may not be a known to the recipient couples
• Egg donors should be healthy women, between the age of 18 and 35 years
• Ideally, they should have had healthy children of their own.
• No history of mental disorders.
• There should be no family history of genetic or inheritable diseases.

The potential egg donor needs to undergo counselling to assess their suitability to become a donor and to ensure as far as possible that the donor is comfortable about donating her eggs.

Egg Sharing-

Our clinic also offers an egg sharing program. Egg sharing is an arrangement that enables selected groups of infertile patients who cannot afford the cost of IVF treatment, to receive IVF treatment in return for donating a proportion of their eggs to matching paying recipients. The egg sharer donor must be fit and healthy, under the age of 35. It is important that the egg sharer understands that the number of embryos available for freezing are reduced.

The potential egg sharer donor are carefully assessed by the clinic.Because of the complexity of egg sharing program, independent counseling is essential for all couples wishing to embark on the program.

Infertile woman undergoes IVF treatment. After the eggs are collected they are shared between the infertile couple and the egg recipient couple. The minimum number of eggs for sharing depends on the total number of follicles but may vary. The donated eggs will be inseminated with sperm from the recipient's woman husband while the other eggs will be inseminated with sperm from the infertile woman' husband. Each couple will have their own embryos transferred.

Occasionally, the donor treatment cycle does not go smoothly as planned. For example, few eggs are collected that are not enough to split. Sometimes, the treatment cycle has to be abandoned because of poor follicular development or risk of OHSS. The eggs may fail to fertilize or the embryos may fail to divide.

Sperm Donation-

Sperm donation is a well-established form of assisted conception treatment. It has been used for more than one hundred years. It is important that both the donor and recipient couples be adequately counseled, screened and made aware of the psychological, moral and legal implications of sperm donation before being accepting it.

To whom donor insemination is advised?

• a very poor sperm or no sperm in his semen.
• risk that the husband or male partner may pass on an inherited disease.
• If the female partner is Rhesus (Rh) sensitized and the male partner is Rh positive (severe rhesus incompatibility).

Donated sperm may be used in an Intrauterine Insemination IUI cycle if there are no problems on the female side. If there are female problems as well the donated sperm may be used as part of an IVF or ICSI cycle.

Selection of sperm donors

Sperm banks- A sperm bank or cryobank is a facility that collects and stores human sperm from sperm donors, primarily for the purposes of artificial insemination.

Sperm donors are often recruited from a local student population or from men who already have families and who wished to help others. Couples may wish to use a known donor or a relative of the husband so that the baby will be related to both parents. This is acceptable if all parties agree. However there are many ethical, psychological and moral issues involved in using a known donor.

Sperm donors should be healthy men and of normal intelligence and fertility with no history of mental disorders or genetic or inherited diseases. Preferably, they should have had healthy children of their own.

Because some sperm die during freezing procedures, it is essential for sperm donors to have a high number of normal motile sperm in the ejaculate. Some fertile men may not be suitable as sperm donors.

Sperm donors should undergo complete physical examination.

Embryo donation-

Embryo donation is a well-established and successful form of assisted conception treatment. It offers hope for select groups of couples who previously thought they could never have children. Embryo donation is usually less expensive and has a fewer medical complications compared to in-vitro fertilization (IVF). The success of embryo donation compares favorably with egg donation. It is important that both the donor and recipient couples be adequately counseled, screened and made aware of the psychological, moral and legal implications of embryo donation before they accept it.

Patients to whom embryo donation is recommended.

• When both partners are infertile
• The woman has a uterus but her ovaries do not produce eggs due to premature menopause .
• Women whose ovaries were damaged by chemotherapy or radiotherapy for cancer, who are born without functioning ovaries or whose ovaries are resistant to stimulation by the pituitary hormones, so-called 'resistant ovarian syndrome'.
• The husband has either a very poor sperm or no sperm in his ejaculate.
• Couples who are at a high risk of passing on genetic disorders to their offspring
• Couples with recurrent pregnancy loss due to chromosomal abnormalities.
• Women with recurrent IVF failures
• Older women who have poorly functioning ovaries and whose chance of achieving a live birth using their own eggs are slim

Also Read:
Ovulation Induction
Intra-Utreine Insemination (IUI)
In-vitro Fertilization ( IVF/ Test tube baby)
Intra-cytoplasmic Sperm Aspiration ( ICSI)
Percutaneous Epididymal Sperm Aspiration (PESA) / Testicular Sperm Aspiration (TESA)
Egg Donation / Sperm Donation/ Embryo Donation
Frozen Embryo Transfer