Cyprus IVF - IVF - Egg donation
Egg Donation |
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For women;
• Women who have never had periods although specified as having healthy intrauterine mucous membrane,
• Women having lost their egg cells following a chemotheraphy or radiotheraphy; women having an operation in which their eggs are removed by surgical ways, or women suffering from early menopause with an unknown reason,
• Women for whom the previous trials ended ineffectively with no eggs obtained.
• Patients for whom the result of the FSH test performed on the 3rd day of the periods is 15 and more,
• Women for whom the previous trials of IVF ended ineffectively with no pregnancy obtained,
• Removing of the ovaries,
• Patients who experienced great tissue loss owing to some reasons such as ovary cyst operation,
• The fact that a genetic disease is present in the family.
• Egg donation treatment is considered in case that pregnancy is not obtained owing to the fact that a few number of eggs, or defected eggs are available in IVF treatments.
Selecting the donors for egg donation
• The egg donors may be anyone known by the couple, or someone they do not know at all.
• The egg donors are healthy individuals whose ages vary between 20 and 29 years
• The donors are well educated
• The donors who have already given birth to healthy child are preferred.
• The donors shouldn't have any family history regarding hypophrenia.
• The donors who have any problem concerning hereditary diseases should be avoided.
• They have not met the recipient couples.
The donors are examined with respect to infectious diseases (HIV, Hepatitis B and C, Cytomegalovirus, Syphilis, Chlamdydia) and genetic diseases (Karyotype analysis and Cystic Fibrosis analysis); and screened for Thalassemia and Sickle cell anemia (applicable for particular ethnic origins), whose blood types and Rh conditions are determined.
The physical characteristics of the egg donors, such as the skin color, eye color, hair color and the body type, are selected as similar to those of the couple as possible. Additionally, the ethnical origin, blood type and the other physical characteristics are selected as in concordance with the couple as possible.
As in normal IVF cases, some powerful hormones are used to synchronize the natural cycles of the female donor and recipients. Sperm, from the recipient’s partner is used to fertilize the donor’s egg(s) in the laboratory and the resulting embryos are placed in the recipient’s uterus that has been prepared to sustain pregnancy.
Recipient screening
Both partners are screened to determine their suitability for the donation process. They are evaluated and counselled in order to determine that they fully understand the nature of the process. The physical screening of the female partner includes examination by a gyneocologist and several tests such as:
- Blood tests including, Hepatitis B and C, HIV, Rubella, Syphilis, blood type and Rh factor, TSH.
- Examination including catheter check, mock cycle, hysterosalpingogram(HSG)
The cycle of egg donation
Birth control pills are used in order to provide the coordination of periods between the egg donor and the receiver. The receiver is given estrojen on ascending doses as soon as the donor starts with the egg augmentation treatment. Estrogen makes the intrauterine layer thicker so that the retention of the transferred embryos is ensured. On the same day the eggs of the donor are collected, her partner's sperms are sampled and the fertilization process gets started. (ICSI process which is the fertilization procedure routinaly used in our laboratory). In cases of inavailability of sperm in the semen, it is obtained by surgical techniques and extracted from the testes or scrotum. In other cases, couples may choose to use donor sperm. The receiver woman usually begins to use progsterone via vaginal route on the same day as egg collection process.
The fertilized embryos are placed in a fresh cleavage medium and left to develop for several days before the transfer. The transfer is generally done on day 3 when embryos are normally developed to the 6 or 8 cell stage. In some cases, depending on the embryo quality, they are allowed to develop until day 5 up to the blastocyst stage that contain more then 100 cells. The administration of progsterone and estrogen is maintained after the process of transfer. 12 days following the transfer process, the pregnancy result is found out by analysing the ßHCG in the blood.
Note:It is often the case in IVF with egg donation that more embryos are produced than can be used in one cycle. When this happens, those embryos can be frozen and preserved for future use.
Also note that for both menstruating women and menopausal women, the treatment stages are the same. Both must take medication prior to the embryo transfers.
Embryo Transfer
A few days after the donor oocytes are fertilized by your partner’s or donor sperm, you will come to our laboratory for the embryo transfer. Transfer is a simple and painless technique but some patients require anesthesia to relax their muscles. On the same day the embryologist will give you information about the quality of embryos to be transferred. The proceedure is very similar to that of intrauterine insemination (IUI). You have to drink approximately 1 lt of water before the transfer, as a full bladder allows the Doctor to identify the uterus using a transabdominal ultrasound more easily, it straigthens out the cervix and allows the transfer to go more smoothly.
The success rate in egg donation and the related countries
1. The countries where the eggs of healthy donators who are under 30 years old and who have already given birth have a success rate of 60-70%. (USA, Spain, TRNC-North Cyprus)
2. The success rate of the countries (Argentina, Belgium, USA, Southern Cyprus) in which the eggs of an average healthy women are used, is 40-45%.
3. The success rate of the countries using donators who have not given birth, but have a number of eggs in excess is 30-37% (Israel, England, India).
4. The countries in which frozen or waste eggs are used: Greece, Israel.
Egg injection is not performed on the ground of legal obligation in some European countries such as Italy and France.
The benefits and risks of egg donation
The rate of clinical pregnancy is approximately 70% per donaton cycle within experienced clinics. In all cases, egg donation treatment has a greater rate of success in comparison with the cycles in which the eggs of the respective woman are used. Egg donation may be an alternate for children adoption. In the respective process, not only the half genetic material of the embryo is obtained from the couple, but also the mother provides the carrier environment for the embryo. In this way, the possibility of having a healthier baby in enhanced by establishing control on the growth and development of the fetus. The mother experiences the pregnancy from beginning to end, and her affection towards her baby gets developed. These are not the characteristics of the process of child adoption.
Complications
Possible displacement of the embryos into the cervix, resulting in a lost embryo, or in the fallopian tubes, resulting in tubal (ectopic) pregnancy; multiple pregnancies. If IVF is successful, a normal pregnancy will be carried out. If IVF with ICSI results in an unsuccessful pregnancy or no pregnancy, different methods of IVF should be considered, such as Egg Donor IVF, Sperm Donor IVF or Embryo Donor IVF.
Pain Factor: The last step, transferring the embryo may cause mild bleeding and cramping.
Recovery: After the procedure, the patient should return home to rest for the remainder of the day, and should avoid strenuous activities for the next three days.
Waiting list:
We actively recruit egg donors, the number of our egg donors is not limited and you do not have to wait many months, the process of donor screening is very selective and over 70% of potential egg donors are rejected during screening process.
