How does donor egg ivf work

Fresh and frozen embryo transfers have comparable live birth success rates in the donor egg IVF process. The following steps are a general guideline for the egg donation process here at Santa Monica Fertility. Details may vary based on the needs of both the egg donor and the intended mother as well as desired fertility goals. The first step of the donor egg IVF process is for you to select and retain a suitable egg donor. You will collaborate with our Egg Donation Coordinator , who will guide and support you throughout the entire egg donation process.

You can browse the profiles of our egg donors at any time; our online egg donor database features a number of exceptional egg donors who are available for fresh and frozen cycles. To meet your individual needs, we work with ladies from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, including Caucasian, Black, Indian, mixed race and Asian egg donors.

Most egg donors whom we work with are already medically and psychologically screened, and many have successfully donated eggs before. John Jain. Jain will review and discuss your medical history, explain the donor egg IVF process in detail and answer all questions that you may have.

Jain will consider your fertility goals and recommend the IVF with donor eggs package that may best meet your needs. Throughout the process, the egg donor will take a number of egg donor medications to prepare for egg retrieval. The egg recipient will take medication that will prepare her for IVF. Although the medication protocol will vary, the main milestones in the donor egg IVF process are usually as follows:.

We will check the eggs the next day to determine which ones are fertilized. At that time, we can freeze all embryos or just the excess for a frozen embryo transfer at a later date. PGT can not only reveal the gender of the embryo for sex selection but also certain genetic conditions. The results from PGT are available within days after starting the diagnostic test. The embryo will develop in the IVF dish for five days. The embryo transfer is a simple procedure performed by placing a soft catheter containing the embryos through the cervix under ultrasound guidance.

The procedure does not require anesthesia. However, we will administer Valium to help relax the pelvic muscles, so you will need to arrange a ride home rather than drive yourself. All donors are young fertile females that have been screened for the top 20 most highly genetic related diseases and selected based on guidelines of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

Our donors offer recipients a chance of IVF success that would only be seen by fertile women in the same age group as the donors themselves. Your egg donor can also be a family or friend willing to undergo a stimulation and egg retrieval procedure. Ideally, this family or friend should still be young, fertile, and otherwise healthy.

The benefit of using a family member or friend is exactly what it seems — you are either related to them or know them well.

The positive. Could be more than 6, could be less. No problem. We make every effort to find a donor that the recipient couple will feel entirely comfortable with and we guide you through this difficult and unique process.

Your first step is setting up and having a consultation. After your consultation, your physician will send a note to the donor team to follow up with you and start the process.

Through your patient portal you will receive a message from our donor coordinator who will upload our Recipient information packet and a link to an informational video.

Once reviewed you will set up a day and time to speak together and discuss the entire process. Time to start selecting your donor from our portal. Typically people go by: skin and eye color, heritage, likes, and dislikes. Send a web correspondence to your coordinator when you see a donor that fits your criteria.

Just let your donor coordinator know. The minimum pre-treatment evaluation of the recipient couple includes:. HSG dye study of the uterus or hysteroscopy for evaluation of the uterine cavity within 1 year. Blood tests for the female carrying the pregnancy. Because a fresh egg fresh transfer donor egg IVF cycle requires your cycles be synched and in order to properly time the transfer you must do a mock or practice cycle to properly understand the effects of estrogen on your lining.

This ensures that your lining will be thickened and properly developed when the embryos are ready for transfer. During your mock cycle, you will take either estrogen pills or skin patches for approximately 10 days.

Your lining will be checked the day you start your estrogen protocol and after 10 days of estrogen. Your specific protocol will be explained in detail at your baseline appointment or by phone if you are an out of town recipient. This is the second critical step in getting your lining to the proper stage of development when the embryos are ready to transfer. Your recipient coordinator will be in constant contact with you providing you with step by step instructions on when to start and stop the birth control pill.

After your cycles are synced, you will start preparing for your transfer while your donor prepares for their retrieval. Beginning on day 2,3, or 4 of the cycle you will begin a series of medications, first estrogen, then progesterone. If the recipient still has ovarian function and a period, they will be given Lupron, which transiently suppresses their own ovarian function, before starting estrogen and progesterone. Simply ensure your sperm is at our office frozen prior to the beginning of your cycle, this can be partner sperm or that of a sperm donor.

If possible, it is advantageous to provide a fresh sample on the day of the retrieval to improve fertilization, implantation and live birth rates. The donor will have their egg retrieval which will subsequently be fertilized and grown in the lab for days. The catheter is then gently passed through the cervical canal and into the uterus using an abdominal ultrasound to provide visual guidance during the transfer.

That same day of the egg retrieval, the intended father will provide a semen sample. In some cases, the sample may be prepared and frozen earlier.

Hopefully, some of the eggs will become fertilized. After three to five days, the intended mother will come into the fertility clinic for an embryo transfer. Any extra embryos will be frozen—or cryopreserved—for a future cycle. The intended mother will continue to take progesterone supplementation. About ten days after the embryo transfer, the intended mother will take a pregnancy test to see if the cycle was a success.

Egg donors face similar risks as women going through conventional IVF. The fertility drugs taken to stimulate the ovaries all come with risks and side effects that the donor must know about. The biggest risk to the donor is developing OHSS.

Because donors are usually young and very fertile, their risk may be slightly higher than an infertile woman going through IVF. Untreated OHSS can threaten her fertility and even her life, in rare cases. There are also psychological risks to the donor. That said, many donors experience feelings of satisfaction and pride in helping a family.

Speaking to a counselor before donation is extremely important and usually required by egg donor programs. For the intended mother, the primary risk of donor egg IVF is conceiving a multiple pregnancy. To reduce the risk, as few embryos as possible should be transferred. Talk to your doctor about whether single embryo transfer may be best for your situation. This is the nationally reported average for Success rates will vary from clinic to clinic. In the case of egg sharing with another infertile couple, the success rate may be lower.

The same can be said for using a friend or family member as a donor, who may not be the ideal donor candidate. Egg donor IVF is very expensive. Cost will vary depending on the source of the egg donor. There are also IVF refund programs that can offer a kind of insurance if treatment fails. You can also explore ways to pay less and get cash for IVF treatment.

Not everyone wants to pursue egg donor IVF. The high cost prevents many couples from even considering it. Your alternative options will depend on why you needed an egg donor in the first place.

Here is an overview of your other options. Get diet and wellness tips to help your kids stay healthy and happy. American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Third-Party Reproduction. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for VerywellFamily. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page.