Donor Egg Program
Sometimes a woman cannot become pregnant using her own eggs. This could be due to ovarian failure related to age, genetic problems, previously failed IVF cycles for unexplained reasons, 
ovarian damage secondary to cancer treatments, recurrent miscarriage, and other conditions.
Fortunately, these women now have the option of IVF using a donor’s eggs. Egg donor candidates should be between the ages of 21 and 34, meet height and weight requirements (to minimize health risks), and be free of certain genetic defects and medical conditions. Most often the identity of the egg donor is not known to the couple unless it is a “known” donor such as a relative or friend.
A key aspect of most protocols for donor egg IVF is an exhaustive screening for any physical or psychological problems. Usually, prospective egg donors are sincerely interested in helping couples conceive and receive compensation for their inconvenience.
Egg donors undergo ovulation induction with FSH to cause the production of numerous eggs. Once these eggs mature, they are retrieved and combined with the husband’s sperm or fertilized using ICSI. The resultant embryos are incubated for 3-5 days (sometimes longer).
One major advantage of using an egg donor is that the IVF success rates match the egg donor’s age group. For example, if the eggs of a 23 year old woman are fertilized and the embryos implanted in a 40 year old women; the success rates equal the 23 year old group and are typically very high.
While the donor is undergoing ovulation induction, the recipient’s cycle is synchronized. Her endometrium must thicken and become more vascular to accept the embryos. Fertility drugs such as progesterone are used to cause endometrial development.
Some programs are now freezing donor’s egg for future use in IVF cycles. The major advantage to this process is the recipient can undergo the “retrieval cycle” at her convenience and does not have to be synched with the egg donor. Also, if there are “problems” with the egg donor, the recipient will not have had to undergo“wasted” cycle synchronization.
Embryo Freezing
Sometimes there are leftover embryos after a cycle since there may be too many to safely transfer. The advantage of freezing embryos is that they can be replaced in a future cycles without the patient having to repeat drug treatment and surgery. We recommend embryo freezing if two or more embryos of good quality are available. The final decision, however, remains with the couple concerned.
Frozen embryo transfer has been practiced since 1987 and there appears to be no increased incidence of fetal abnormality in babies born following this procedure. About 70 percent of all frozen embryos survive the thawing process. Although some couples may have all of their embryos survive in good condition, others may not have any that survive. Embryos are frozen in batches of two or three and are thawed as a group, not individually.
Replacement of frozen embryos is relatively simple. The woman’s natural cycle is monitored using an ultrasound scan and ovulation predictor kits to time ovulation. Following ovulation, the embryos are thawed and transferred back to the uterus. If the woman’s cycle is irregular, we may recommend HRT, giving us control over the time of transfer. At our center, embryos can be frozen for up to one year, at which time the embryos may be donated to another couple, thawed in a culture and allowed to degenerate, or transferred to a long-term storage facility.
Qualified egg donor candidates who are interested in helping infertile couples enjoy the gift of parenthood should contact either the Assisted Fertility Program of North Florida in Jacksonville, FL or the Assisted Fertility Program of SouthWest Virginia in Salem, Virginia.