Candidates

Good candidates for egg donation include women who:

• Never had a spontaneous menstrual period
• Stopped menstruating at an early age due to genetics, auto-immune responses, radiation, chemotherapy, surgical removal of both ovaries, or an unknown cause
• Produced few or no eggs, or had an elevated follicle stimulating hormone (FSH level) in a previous in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle
• Usually in their 40s and stopped menstruating or do not respond well to fertility drugs
• Show high follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels of 15 or more on day three of a Clomiphene Challenge Test. Research suggests these women will not be successful with IVF using their own eggs.
• Failed to achieve a pregnancy after multiple IVF cycles, perhaps due to age of her eggs.
  

Egg Donation Benefits

Experienced programs like RSC’s report clinical pregnancy rates of 50 percent per egg donation cycle. Success rates are better than pregnancy rates with IVF cycles using a woman's own eggs.

Egg donation has some advantages over adoption. Though the donor provides half of the genetic make-up of the embryo, the recipient controls the prenatal environment, prenatal nutrition, and she experiences pregnancy from early on through childbirth and breastfeeding.

Egg Donation Risks

In addition to the usual risks of IVF, approximately 15 to 20 percent of egg donation pregnancies result in a miscarriage, and 20 to 25 percent result in multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.) 

Procedure

If you feel you may be a candidate for egg donation, contact our office to schedule a consultation. We will help you to determine whether this is a good option for you. Discussion includes egg donor selection, an evaluation cycle, the real cycle, success rates, and costs.

Selecting an Egg Donor

A sister or friend who is willing to be a donor may be a great option. College newspaper advertising has been a successful way to find a donor for many couples. There are many organizations, psychologists, and social workers available to help RSC patients select the best donor. Some programs have their own egg donors.

The expense varies, depending on how you find the donor. The American Fertility Society suggests that donors be paid to compensate them for the risk and time involved. ASRM recommends compensation be around $5,000 but never more than $10,000.

A donor should be no more than 32 years old and should match as many of your desired characteristics as possible. She should not have any family history of birth defects or hereditary disease. She should undergo a medical and social history, physical examination, psychological screening, and laboratory screening for sexually transmitted diseases. You may prefer an anonymous donation, or you may want to meet and get to know the donor.

Evaluation Cycle

Once you select an egg donor, you go through an evaluation cycle that allows your doctor to determine the proper dosage of estrogen and progesterone to prepare your uterus to receive the embryos. Your doctor may prescribe Estrace (an oral, natural estrogen), Estraderm (a patch) or Estrogen injections, in gradually increasing dosages over a period of 10 to 14 days. RSC will evaluate your blood estrogen level and perform an ultrasound to measure the thickness of your uterine lining.

This cycle takes three to four weeks. When the evaluation cycle is complete, your physician will know how best to prepare the lining of your uterus for the real cycle.

Egg Donation Cycle

Your physician uses birth control pills to coordinate your cycle with your donor's cycle, increasing your estrogen dosage as your donor starts her medication. You will need to have periodic blood tests. On the day your donor's eggs are retrieved, your partner will supply a semen specimen to fertilize the eggs. You usually begin progesterone (injection or vaginal) on the day before the donor's egg retrieval. Two or three embryos will be transferred to your uterus using IVF three to five days later.

After you receive the embryos, you continue to take estrogen and progesterone. RSC will schedule a pregnancy test for eleven days after the embryo transfer. If positive, you continue the estrogen and progesterone for approximately two months. At that time the baby's placenta will ensure proper hormone production and no more medication is necessary.