Treatment - Donor Egg Program
For some couples, it is not appropriate for the woman to use her own eggs
- She may be elderly (mid to late 40's) or she may have had previous IVF cycles, where her own egg quality was found to be very poor.
- The menopause may have arrived early.
- Some women have a chromosome problem called Turner's Syndrome, which causes sterility, because the ovaries do not form at all in early life.
- Sterility can also be caused by radiation or chemotherapy treatment for cancer and some women may have had their ovaries removed because of severe diseases of the ovaries, such as tumours or endometriosis.
In these situations, another woman may act as a donor and provide eggs for the infertile couple, by undergoing an IVF cycle. Donors are generally women in their late 20's or early 30's, who have completed their families, or at least have had one child themselves. Often, they are relatives or friends of the woman concerned. Other women may present as anonymous donors to the Unit and simply ask that their eggs be given to a couple who needs them. All our egg donors have an assessment and examination by the Doctor, an interview with the Nursing Co-Ordinator, and must be seen by the Unit Counsellor before donating her eggs. Blood tests are performed to make sure that there is no risk of transmitting diseases such as HIV or Hepatitis to the recipient couple and they also have chromosome and cystic fibrosis screening. The donor must be prepared to be identified in the future, by any child who is born from her eggs.
When the initial screening processes have been completed, the donor undergoes an IVF cycle and her eggs are collected under general anaesthetic. The eggs are then fertilised by the recipient husband's sperm. In some cases, the one or two embryos may be put into the recipient woman's uterus, in a fresh embryo transfer. In other cases, usually when there is an anonymous donation, ther fertilised eggs are frozen and stored for six months, to complete the quarantine period. At that stage, a repeat blood test is performed for the egg donor and the recipient undergoes a frozen embryo transfer.
The donor egg programme is one of the most successful of our treatments, with approximately 70-80% of couples achieving a pregnancy by this method.
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