The IVF Egg Donation Procedure

The use of fertility drugs in IVF egg donation is crucial. These important drugs trick the body into producing more eggs than normal, by the override of the bodies’ natural ovulation mechanism. It is vital for the success of IVF egg donation that multiple eggs are harvested from the egg donor, as only one egg at a time would reduce success rates tremendously.

Eggs inside of a woman’s uterus develop in follicles. And it is these follicles which are monitored using either ultrasound technology or blood tests to analyse and check their development.

When the eggs have matured enough, both follicles and eggs are retrieved from the egg donor using an ultrasound probe and needle inserted into the vagina. The harvested eggs are usually placed into Petri-dishes rather than test tubes as the name ‘test tube baby’ suggests. This procedure takes approximately twenty minutes and cramping as a side effect is common.

A sperm donation has to be collected on the morning of the IVF egg donation procedure. This can come from either the partner of the egg donation recipient or from a sperm donor. The sperm undergoes a sperm washing technique and is analysed. Then the strongest healthiest looking sperm is added to the eggs in the Petri-dish. If the sperm is not able to fertilise the donated egg for whatever reason ICSI or Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection is performed to manually inject the egg with sperm.

The following day the embryologist inspects for signs of fertilisation. The eggs have been surviving all this time in a special growth media which means that it is possible for them to live outside of the egg donor’s body. If fertilisation has occurred the early embryos will then be transferred into the recipient’s uterus.

To thicken the uterus walls and prepare them for the fertilised ovum, Progesterone is administered. This will increase the chances of the embryos successfully attaching themselves to the uterus. A maximum of three embryos are then transferred into the egg donor recipient’s uterus.

Around two weeks after the initial IVF egg donation procedure was completed, a pregnancy test is conducted on the egg donor recipient to see whether the treatment has been a success.