July 27, 2007, Newsletter Issue #37: Egg Donation and In Vitro Fertilization

Tip of the Week

When more conservative measures fail to effectively treat infertility in women, including the use of fertility drugs, intrauterine insemination and rarely intra-fallopian insemination, many couples or single women may turn to in vitro fertilization.

This process involves harvesting an egg from an ovary and fertilizing it in a petri dish or test tube, then transfering it into the uterus. For women who have undergone early menopause, have no ovaries or have other medical conditions which may make egg production, or use of their own eggs, impossible, egg donation becomes the next viable option to achieve donor embryo pregnancy.

Since the use of donated eggs precludes natural conception, as the eggs cannot be transfered prior to fertilization, in vitro fertilization must be used to achieve union of the egg and sperm. The process for egg donation is specific for both the egg donor and the recipient, and involves health and psychological screening, blood testing according to the FDA, use of fertility medications, and then surgical procedures to retrieve or "harvest" the eggs, and the transfer into the receiving woman's uterus, following fertilization.

The entire process can take several weeks, including assessment and fertility drug treatment, though the actual implantation takes less than an hour. Talk to your Fertility Specialist to see if egg donation for in vitro fertilization is the right choice to help you achieve your parenthood goals.

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