Oocyte (egg) donation

Oocyte (egg) donation

Who is suitable for this type of treatment?

Oocyte donation may be indicated when:

• a woman has not eggs left (premature ovarian failure or advanced age)
• a woman has few eggs and/or poor quality eggs, which makes pregnancy impossible despite in vitro fertilisation techniques.
• a woman is a carrier of a serious genetic disease that could be passed on to the child if she uses her own eggs.

Legal provisions

Belgian legislation allows oocyte donation to take place between two persons that know each other (direct or managed donation) or two persons that do not know each other (anonymous donation).

It is therefore perfectly possible to harvest eggs from a sister, a close relative, or a friend, to fertilise them and then transfer them to the reciepient.

It is also possible to make an anonymous egg donation or cross-donation.

In Belgium, there are very few spontaneous anonymous egg donors. Futhermore, it is forbidden to pay donors and to advertise.

Donors only receive a small compensation for the loss of salary due to the time needed for donation.

In the case of anonymous cross-donation, you can bring a donor you know from your circle. She could donate her eggs anonymously to another couple and in exchange we will provide you with eggs from another donor (cross-donation).

In principle, for anonymous donation, the donor must:

• Be over 18 and under 36 years old (35 y/o and 364 days).
• Meet the anamnesis criteria (personal and family medical history) and the para-clinical examinations requested by the medical doctor.
• Must meet with the psychologist.
• Must meet with a geneticist.

In principle, for direct donation, the donor must:

• Be over 18 and under 36 years old (35 y/o and 364 days).
• Have at least one child.
• Meet the anamnesis criteria (personal and family medical history) and the para-clinical examinations requested by the medical doctor.
• Must meet with the psychologist.
• Must meet with a geneticist.

However, these conditions are discussed on case-by-case basis.

The donor candidate must of course meet strict medical criteria before being accepted.

As for the recipient, she must have applied for MAP before the age of 45.

Embryo transfer is allowed until she is 48 years old (47 years and 364 days).

Treatment

The donor must undergo ovarian stimulation treatment to obtain several follicles and oocytes. This stimulation will last approximately 11 days. It is based on the same principle as the treatments used in standard IVF.

The maturation of the follicles must be monitored by a gynaecologist: this monitoring requires some blood tests and ultrasound scans, which can be done close to home as long as the results are received by fax or e-mail before 4pm on the same day.

When the follicles are mature, ovulation will be triggered by an injection that will take place late in the evening.

The donor must be at the clinic on the day of the retrieval for a day hospitalization. The oocyte retrieval is normally done under sedation (light general anaesthesia).

The recipient must have a check-up confirming her receptivity to embryo transfer and she must also undergo treatment to ensure the preparation of the uterus.

The recipient's cycle does not have to be synchronised with that of the donor. Indeed, it is quite possible for the donor to start her cycle and for the oocyte or embryos to be frozen before being transferred to the recipient at a later date, without reducing the chanced of pregnancy.

In practice, most of the time, the cycle of the recipient and the donor are desynchronised, thanks to efficient oocyte and embryo freezing techniques.

Results

The results of oocyte donation are good, and essentially depend on the age of the donor.

On average, it can be considered that more than 60% of recipients will be pregnant after their third transfer.

Are you interested in becoming an anonymous egg donor ? 

Please fill in this questionnaire. We will contact you as soon as possible.