Rising infertility rates and Lack of health awareness across the world are prompting governments to take various measures. New policies and programs are being continuously launched by governments and other healthcare organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) encouraging the adoption of assisted reproductive procedures including donor egg IVF.
Egg Donation via IVF has emerged as an ideal fertility treatment option for helping infertile couples to conceive children with a high fertility success rate. In order to address a variety of reproductive problems, human egg donation technology is introduced. Such technologies provide greater insight into possible predictors of live birth in donor oocyte cycles, allowing us to continue to improve outcomes moving forward.
What is egg donation?
Egg donation is a process when a woman i.e. donor gives her eggs to another woman i.e. recipient to allow the recipient to have a baby. It is a part of assisted reproductive technology in which a fertile woman donates an egg, or oocyte, to another woman to help her conceive.
To donate eggs, the donor must be given medications that will cause her to develop multiple eggs over a single cycle. These eggs are then removed from the donor by placing a needle that is attached to an ultrasound probe through the vaginal tissues. The eggs are then gently suctioned from the ovaries.
Once the eggs are removed, they are evaluated by an embryologist. Then sperm from the male partner or a sperm bank is injected into each egg, this process is known as in vitro fertilization (IVF). Success of this process depends on several factors including the age of the egg donor, retrieval process, quality of sperm, and the recipient’s overall health.
Egg Donation Process
The egg donation process has different stages and cycles. The most common first step is the medical assessment of donors. After getting approval on a health check then the actual process starts, which is as follows.
- The egg donor gets hormone injections to induce the ovulation of multiple eggs. Women naturally release one egg a month and these injections allow a large number of eggs to mature at the same time. Once her eggs are mature and ready for retrieval, the next procedure is scheduled.
- In the next stage, the egg donor is put under sedation and the doctor uses an ultrasound-guided needle inserted into each mature follicle to retrieve each egg.
- The lab will attempt to fertilize several eggs in a laboratory by following in vitro fertilization (IVF) using the recipient’s partner’s sperm or selected donor sperm.
- Then the fertilized egg called an embryo is transferred into the recipient’s uterus. In certain conditions, specialists at the facility may freeze some or all of the embryos for later use or implantation in different women.
- The egg donation process has two transfer cycles used in different circumstances. The first one is the fresh transfer cycle, in this cycle, the donor and the recipient’s cycles are synchronized using medication.
- In another cycle known as a frozen transfer cycle, the embryos are frozen and typically transferred at a later time. Frozen transfers are sometimes utilized so that preimplantation genetic screening for an abnormal number of chromosomes can be performed.
After a successful procedure, the embryo will implant into the uterine lining and develop into a healthy baby.
Benefits Of Egg Donation
1. Egg donation helps with health conditions such as ovarian failures
Some women are infertile due to a condition called primary ovarian insufficiency or premature ovarian failure. An egg donor provides a healthy, mature egg for the IVF process and can help to overcome infertility.
2. Circumventing possible genetic illnesses
A history of genetic diseases can pass on to a child during pregnancy. such genetic illnesses may lead to congenital disabilities, miscarriages, failed IVF cycles, or conditions like sickle cell or Down syndrome. Using a healthy embryo with a donor egg can help avoid these lifelong problems.
3. Donor eggs increase success rates
With IVF, the success rate varies, particularly with older recipients. Most patients undergo more than one cycle. Egg donation significantly helps women aged 45 and older achieve better success rates of conceiving.
Conclusively,
The expansion of fertility clinics and IVF centers across developing regions has increased the demand for egg donation. Additionally, growing mergers and acquisitions to encourage innovation, digitalization, and advancement of infertility treatment are the key developments in the healthcare industry.
