Are you considering using IVF with donor eggs for your pregnancy? If so, you aren’t alone. Thousands of women go through IVF using donor eggs every year. Some reasons to consider donor egg use:
Below is a simplified explanation of the donor and recipient’s role in the egg donation process:
The Reproductive Medicine Group offers a comprehensive egg donation program. Donor eggs allow a woman whose own eggs are no longer healthy or have been depleted, to experience pregnancy and birth. This donor egg program benefits women, who for a variety of reasons, can’t produce their own eggs or produce eggs with diminished fertility potential. The pregnancy rates for donor egg exceeds 50% per cycle.
During the egg donation procedure, eggs are retrieved from a donor’s ovaries, fertilized in the laboratory with the sperm from the recipient’s partner and one to two of the resulting embryos are returned to the recipient patient’s uterus. Additional healthy embryos, if available, can be cryopreserved. In cases of male infertility, intracytoplasmic sperm injection is often used in the egg fertilization process.
At The Reproductive Medicine Group, deidentified egg donors come from all ethnic backgrounds and are between 21 and 32 years old. We adhere to FDA regulations and the guidelines for screening egg donors that have been set by The American Society For Reproductive Medicine. Our program compensates egg donors up to $60k at the completion of up to 6 cycles.
In a traditional donor egg cycle, one recipient patient receives all donated eggs retrieved from one donor. The Reproductive Medicine Group recruits egg donors to match with our recipient patients. Donor egg recipient patients can use a known egg donor, an agency egg donor, or an deidentified egg donor recruited by The Reproductive Medicine Group’s egg donation program. Agency and known egg donors are required to retain services for from a lawyer trained in third party reproduction. Donor egg recipients reimburse egg donors for her time and travel. The Reproductive Medicine Group’s donor egg program is deidentified; no identifying information is released to either party.
Potential egg donors are tested for ovarian reserve and screened for sexually transmitted diseases according to FDA regulations and ASRM guidelines. They also undergo a physical examination, genetic screening and testing, a psychological evaluation, drug and nicotine testing and a review of past medical and family history. Donors are between 21 and 32 years of age and are required to have no history of drug or alcohol abuse, psychological problems or chronic illness. Some will have a history of successful conception and pregnancy.
Women who plan to use donor eggs for IVF undergo an educational session with a psychologist and testing to ensure that their uterus is able to carry a pregnancy. Both the recipient and partner are screened for sexually transmitted diseases. A semen analysis for the male partner will be performed.
Health young women selected to participate as egg donors are between the ages of 21 and 32. They have been screened by the Special Services Coordinators and a physician at the Reproductive Medicine Group. Once routine screening is completed, the egg donor is seen by a psychologist and a genetic counselor to confirm their suitability to participate as an egg donor. Testing is extensive and includes:
After the screening has been completed, the egg donor can be offered to potential recipients in the program.
The program affords compensation up to $60k for the donor’s time and travel after the donor completes up to 6 cycles. Our donors receive the highest level of medical care and counseling so they fully understand the egg donation process. The majority of egg donors find the process to be a positive one and often sign up to participate in a subsequent egg donation cycle.
Young women who participate as deidentified oocyte donors for The Reproductive Medicine Group are recruited, interviewed and screened by our highly experienced Special Services Coordinators and RMG physicians. Our egg donors live in the Tampa Bay region. They come to us through recommendations from prior egg donors and information they receive at their college campuses, newspaper advertisements, and the internet. Donors complete a comprehensive questionnaire including a written essay portion, and are given extensive information about the egg donation process before they start testing.
We also work with several donor agencies who provide donors from throughout the United States. Although agency fees add a significant cost to the recipient couple, agency use can potentially result in faster matching of donors to recipients.
