Oocyte Donation — How and Why Is It Done?

– When a woman does not have functional eggs, she can receive eggs from a donor.

– Donors are medically, psychologically, and genetically evaluated.

– The fertilized egg in the laboratory is transferred to the recipient’s uterus.

Egg donation is used when a woman’s ovaries do not produce eggs that can be fertilized. This occurs when a woman has lost her ovaries after surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy, or due to a congenital problem. It is also used when there are issues with egg quality related to age or when there are hereditary diseases that the woman does not wish to pass on to her children.

Egg donors go through a rigorous selection process to ensure they are in good health. First, donors must be healthy individuals with no personal or family history of genetic diseases, who do not use any type of medication or drugs, and ideally have already had children. They are evaluated by a gynecologist, a psychologist, and a geneticist. Psychological, genetic, and laboratory tests are performed to screen for HIV/AIDS, syphilis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, cytomegalovirus, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and HTLV1 and HTLV2 viruses.

The selection of the donor is discussed with the couple, who choose the characteristics that best suit their case.

The donor receives medication to stimulate ovulation and produce several eggs. Once mature, these eggs are extracted to be frozen and fertilized in the laboratory with the sperm of the husband of the woman receiving the donation, through In Vitro Fertilization. After 3 to 5 days in an incubator, the fertilized eggs are transferred to the recipient woman’s uterus.

The recipient woman undergoes a process to prepare her uterus, which begins with menstruation. This process may involve supplementation with estrogen and progesterone or allowing a spontaneous ovulatory cycle.