Ovum Donation

More than 150,000 women in the United States can't bear children because of ovarian problems. Many women do not produce eggs, or have had their ovaries removed, have had radiation therapy or chemotherapy for cancer that destroyed their ovarian function, or have dysfunctional ovaries, and are no longer producing high quality eggs. Other women have deferred pregnancy until their late thirties or forties. Since the ovaries age at such dramatically different rates in different women, while some conceive quickly, others are no longer able to conceive using their own eggs and require donated eggs to conceive. Egg donation is a treatment that uses the male partner's sperm to fertilize eggs donated by an anonymous female donor, and is followed by transfer of the fertilized egg into the female partner's uterus.

Egg donors are typically healthy women between ages 21 and 31 who have no known genetic or sexually transmitted diseases. They should be screened for genetic, hormonal, psychological, infectious, and physical diseases. Egg donors usually take injectable hormones for eight to ten days to increase their egg production. Donor eggs are retrieved transvaginally using an ultrasound to guide the procedure. The recipient of the donated eggs usually takes hormones to synchronize her cycle with the donor's cycle and to prepare her uterus to receive the embryos and thus enhance the likelihood of implantation occurring. These hormones include estrogen which can be taken orally or administered in patches that attach to the skin and progesterone administered by injections. As in IVF, three embryos are normally transferred to increase the couple's chances of pregnancy. In a good program, more than 50% of ovum recipients should receive positive pregnancy tests on their first attempt.

Click here for information on becoming a donor.