Northern
Fertility has an extremely successful donor egg program.
Egg donation is an option for women with advanced reproductive
age, poor egg or embryo quality, diminished ovarian
reserve (abnormal clomiphene challenge testing) and
multiple failed IVF cycles. Donor eggs are also a very successful
treatment for women with premature menopause. Patients may
provide their own donor, often a close friend or relative.
More commonly Northern Fertility will match the infertile
couple with an anonymous donor. We have a philosophy of
openness - recipients are encouraged to review all of the
prospective donor's information, except for facts that would
reveal the donor's identity. Donors are 21 to 32 years of
age, in good health, with normal ovarian reserve. They undergo
extensive medical and psychological screening. Donors are
tested for sexually transmitted diseases including HIV,
Hepatitis B and C, and syphilis. Cervical cultures are also
performed to test for Chlamydia,
Gonorrhea, Mycoplasma, and Ureaplasma. A thorough medical
history and physical exam is performed. Each prospective
donor undergoes a full battery of psychological screening
tests and an interview with a psychologist is performed.
Donors are compensated $5000 for their time.
All
donor egg recipients undergo a 30 second office hysteroscopy
to evaluate her uterine cavity prior to a donor cycle. If
fibroids or
polyps are found, they are removed to maximize the likelihood
of embryo implantation. Many studies have demonstrated that
the uterus does not change with age. Egg donation works
equally well for a recipient in her twenties or forties.
Egg
donors are treated with the same individualized attention
as our infertile patients. Our nurse coordinator and physicians
are available to the donor 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, to ensure a successful cycle. We use nurse anesthetists,
so that your egg retrieval is safe and painless. Because
Northern Fertility has one of the best In Vitro Fertilization
programs in the Philadelphia area, it is not surprising
that our donor egg program is also outstanding. The majority
of our donors find the experience fulfilling and choose
to donate again.
As
with normal pregnancy, timing is everything when it comes
to egg donation. We synchronize the recipient's cycle with
the donor's cycle, so that a receptive uterus is insured
when the embryos created through donated eggs are ready
to be transferred. The recipient takes subcutaneous Lupron
injections to suppress here ovaries. If the recipient has
no ovarian function (premature menopause)
Lupron is not used. Once the Lupron has created a menopausal-like
state (typically after 10 days) transdermal estrogen patches
are started. The estrogen dose is increased every few days
to mimic a normal menstrual cycle. When the donor is ready
to undergo egg retrieval, the recipient lowers her estrogen
dosage. The recipient also starts progesterone
injections so that her uterus can become sticky for an embryo
to implant.
On
the day of egg retrieval,
the recipient's husband or partner will produce a fresh
semen sample. The sperm is then added to the culture dishes
containing the donor eggs. Intracytoplasmic
sperm injection (ICSI) may be indicated if the husband's
semen analysis
is abnormal. Donor sperm
is available to single women, and for women whose husbands
or partners have no sperm.
Embryo
transfer is performed three days after the egg retrieval.
On occasions, a day 5 "blastocyst" transfer may
be used. The embryos are placed into the recipient's uterus
under transvaginal ultrasound guidance. Because these donated
eggs are almost always very high quality, we typically transfer
only two embryos.
