Medical procedures for donor egg recipient

The treatment of donor egg recipient and egg donor.

Egg donation involves two women: a donor and another a donor egg recipient. An egg donor receives IVF treatment to produce eggs. These are afterwards inseminated in the laboratory by the semen of the egg recipient’s husband or partner (or a sperm donor). The fertilized eggs are called embryos, and one or a pair of them are inserted back into the uterus of the donor egg recipient to conceive a pregnancy.

Differences between IVF and IVF with egg donation

The major difference between ‘standard IVF’ and ‘egg donation IVF’ is that one more person is required to create a pregnancy. This lady is the egg donor, whose eggs are used in case if the would-be mother (the donor egg recipient) cannot utilize her own eggs to get pregnant. We offer you a comprehensive description of all the egg donation process.

Synchronising the menstrual cycles

The donor and the donor egg recipient need to be at the start of their menstrual cycles which is necessary to start egg donation treatment. Even if the recipient doesn’t have a regular menstrual cycle, we can induce it’s beginning at the right time. This is performed by prescribing contraceptive pills to both the donor and the recipient according to the agreed plan. The tablets course is finished on the same date by both the donor the donor egg recipient, starting a ‘withdrawal bleed’ in both ladies.

The egg donor’s treatment

After the egg donor's period begins, she has an ultrasound examination of the womb and the ovaries to make sure the ovaries are inactive and the womb membrane is thin. Your egg donor afterwards takes medication to stimulate her ovaries produce egg cells. After about 10 days, she takes an extra hormone to make the egg cells ready for collection. Egg collection is made by aspirating the cells from the follicles via a needle introduced into the ovary via the vagina. Her mission in your treatemnt is now over.

The egg recipient’s treatment

Donor egg recipients may or may not have a normal menstrual cycle. This can be regulated and controlled with the help hormonal medication. You may have one or two extra injections of a ‘down-regulating’ drug to make optimal synchronisation with your donor. Once the period is started by the medicine, you will usually have an examination to check that the membrane of your uterus is thin and that there are no cysts in the ovaries right before starting the treatment cycle. This cycle involves taking oestrogen pillows, cream or patches to build up your womb membrane again, to ensure you are prepared in the best possible way as a donor egg recipient. Five days before the intended day for Embryo Transfer, you start taking progesterone as well as oestrogen.

Embryo cultivation and transfer

The donor eggs gathered are inseminated with the sperm of the male partner or a sperm donor. They are grown in our lab for three or (more usually) five days. Throughout this time, they keep on dividing and grow. At five days old, embryos are known as blastocysts. By this part, our expert embryologists can evaluate which embryos are of the most promising quality. On the day of embryo transfer, a single or a pair of the excellent quality embryos are moved through the cervical canal inside the donor egg recipient’s womb using a threadlike, elastic plastic catheter. This operation is usually short and painless.

After the Embryo Transfer donor egg recipients take oestrogen and progesterone tablets for two weeks and then take a pregnancy test (which is usually a blood test). If the test is positive, you must have an ultrasound to verify the pregnancy two weeks after. If a ‘fetal sac’ is noticeable on the scan, this provides clinical confirmation of your pregnancy.

At O.L.G.A. Fertility Clinic, we had a 60% success rate in 2008. This was the proven clinical pregnancy rate after transfer of 2 fresh embryos at the 5-day-old blastocyst development stage. The number of children conceived through egg donation is increasing each year as more infertile women know about this form of treatment.

Interested in egg donation at O.L.G.A. Fertility Clinic?

Please first fill in our questionnaire This will be assessed by one of our experienced doctors, who will then get in touch with you using your preferred contact method.

If you have any questions, an English-speaking receptionist is available to take your call on 007 81 2336 3059 between 07:00-14:00 Central European time (06.00-13.00 UK time). You can also reach us by e-mail at info@olgafertilityclinic.com

We look forward to hearing from you!

Very kind regards,
Your O.L.G.A. Fertility Clinic team

Related pages in other lnguages: English Egg donation Deutsch Eizellspende Netherlands Eiceldonatie Dansk Ægdonation