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What is Sperm & Egg Donation?
For some couples, assisted conception treatments on their own
are not enough. Sometimes a man produces no sperm at all, in which
case a couple may find that donor insemination (DI) offers them
their only chance of having a child. A woman, perhaps because
of an inherited condition, surgery, or chemotherapy, may not produce
any eggs and will need donated eggs, or embryos to conceive. Using
donated eggs is an option taken up by older women, too; women
in their forties have a low chance of success with assisted conception
treatments using their own eggs because egg quality declines with
age. Couples who know they are at risk of passing on a genetic
disorder may also choose to use donated gametes - a term which
refers to both eggs and sperm.
Donor insemination has been practiced in the
Canada and US for many years although it's use is decreasing as
the success of micromanipulation techniques, such as ICSI, (which
can help men with a very low sperm count) increases. It is not
an answer for couples where the woman also has fertility problems.
Who are candidates for sperm donation?
The candidates here are fairly more obvious than in egg donation.
These are men who have low sperm counts, poor morphology, or motility
issues. Donors go through various screening process before their
samples will be added to the lab's availability lists.
The donors are healthy men between 20 to 40,
from a sound background, and usually graduates. Those who are
healthy, with no family history of illness are requested to provide
a sperm sample for testing. This semen is analyzed, and accepted
only if it has superior qualities: a count over 100 million per
millimetre; and motility of 70% to 80%. Blood is checked to make
sure they are negative for AIDS, Hepatitis and STD's.
Who are the candidates for egg donation?
Women with premature ovarian failure who have stopped menstruating
at an early age are excellent candidates. Premature ovarian failure
may be due to a genetic cause, auto-immune causes, radiation or
chemotherapy, surgical removal of both ovaries, or an unknown
cause. In addition, women who have undergone previous IVF cycles
with production of very few, if any, eggs are good candidates
for oocyte donation. Similarly, women who may be in their 40's
and have stopped menstruating or just do not respond well to fertility
drugs may benefit from oocyte donation.
In addition women who have had multiple IVF
cycles and failed to achieve a pregnancy may be candidates for
egg donation. One possible reason for not achieving a pregnancy
in these women is their eggs.
Embryo Donation?
At NewLife, we have had many successes with embryo donation from
patients who have completed their family and have excess embryos.
This offers an ulternative to adoption in couples who have no
mean of finding an egg donor.
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