The
Egg Donor
Program at North Shore Fertility
The
egg donor procedure allows women with nonfunctioning
or absent ovaries to carry a pregnancy to term and
experience the delivery of her child. With the procedure
the child will have the genetic makeup of the father
and egg donor, similar to donor sperm where the child
has the genetic makeup of the mother and the sperm
donor.
The
egg donor can help several groups of women including
older perimenopausal or menopausal women, those whose
ovaries are absent or were destroyed by chemotherapy
or radiation and those where IVF has failed. Most
infertility clinics don't offer standard IVF to women
in their mid to late forties because of low success
rates.
The
donor egg program
is a viable alternative for these women and success
rates are typically high. Donors are recruited and
receive compensation. Most often the donor is anonymous
unless she is a family member or friend. All donors
undergo extensive screening for infectious and genetic
diseases and receive a psychological evaluation.
The
egg donor receives injectable medication (FSH), which
stimulates her ovaries to produce numerous eggs. Once
mature, the eggs are withdrawn from the donor's ovaries
as in standard IVF. Other drugs, such as Lupron, are
used to synchronize the patients' cycles. This is
done to insure that the recipient's uterus is ready
to receive the pre-embryos at the appropriate time
after culturing.
The
donor eggs are combined with the partner's sperm in
the donor egg IVF
procedure and incubated for the appropriate
length of time after which, they are placed into the
recipient's uterus. Usually, the recipient's preparation
includes down regulation of the ovaries (if present)
with Lupron and the administration of estrogen and
progesterone to develop a suitable lining for the
implantation of the embryos.
