Reproductive Medicine

Treatments

IVF with donor eggs

Two visits to our centre are necessary to undertake an in vitro fertilisation cycle with donor eggs. The first visit is for an interview with an infertility specialist and the second is to carry out the embryonic transfer.

There are various reasons why the best way for a couple to have a baby is by in vitro fertilisation using the eggs of a young, healthy woman donor.

We understand egg donation to be an anonymous, altruistic, and voluntary act of solidarity, in which a young woman donates eggs to another woman or couple so that they may have the opportunity to give birth to their own child and to enjoy maternity, as regulated by the current legislation in Spain

Current legislation governing the donation of eggs

The donation of female gametes (eggs) was authorised in 1988 under Spanish law by Act 35/22 November 1988. Subsequently, Royal Decree 412/1996 and Act 14/ 26 May 2006 completed the regulation of this procedure, from a medical, ethical and legal point of view.

The legislation above established that the donation of gametes and pre-embryos for the purposes authorised under the law is a free, formal, anonymous, and confidential contract between the donor and the authorised centre. In addition, the law states that the donation may never be a lucrative or commercial transaction and specifies the studies and health checks that have to be carried out on the donors and the recipients, in order to guarantee a good state of health. Obviously, the law specifies that for all legal effects the recipient of the eggs will be the legal mother of the child conceived if a pregnancy occurs.

Stages:

Donor selection and preparation

Donor selection is a very serious and well-regulated procedure. The law states that donors must be over 18, in good physical and mental health, and in possession of full decision-making faculties.

The candidate is subjected to a full medical examination that takes into account:

Age: over 18

Race

Height and weight

Physical characteristics: colour of eyes, hair colour and texture, skin colour, blood group and Rh factor

Normal cariotype

Blood group and Rh factor

Negative personal and family record of genetic, hereditary or infectious diseases transmittable to descendants

General exploration to study physical and mental health

Normality of the reproductive apparatus (physical examination, ultrasound scan, vaginal cultures)

Full blood analysis: negative results for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and Syphilis, hemogram, coagulation and biochemistry.

Fertility history and/or adequate response to ovarian stimulation treatment

In order to prepare the donor it is first necessary to synchronise the menstrual cycles of the donor and the recipient. Ovarian stimulation and egg recovery are performed on the donor and are carried out repeatedly (see IVF-stages- ovarian stimulation).

Preparing the recipient

The preparation of the recipient’s endometrium is a very simple, but vitally important treatment.

It is based on the exogenous provision of hormones (oestrogens and progesterone), either transcutaneously (patches) or orally, so that the endometrium, or internal mucous of the uterus, where the embryos will be implanted, will be in the optimum receptive conditions at the time of the transfer.

The technical procedure for In Vitro Fertilisation is identical to an IVF (see IVF, stages).

EMBRIOGYN | Estanislau Figueres 8, baixos, 43003 Tarragona (Spain)| Tel. +34 977 24 24 51 | Fax. +34 977 92 06 13