In egg donation, eggs are borrowed from a young woman called the donor, with her consent. These eggs are then fertilized with the sperms of the husband of the recipient woman and the resultant embryo, is inserted into the womb of the recipient. The success rate of this procedure is in the region of 50-60%. This is probably the oldest woman to have become pregnant, in India.
You might be a candidate for donor eggs if you have any of these conditions :
1. Premature ovarian failure, a condition in which menopause has started much earlier than usual, typically before age 40.
2. Diminished ovarian reserve, meaning that the eggs that you have are of low quality; this can often be caused by age, since fertility drops off steeply after 40.
3. Genetically transmitted diseases that could be passed on to your child.
4. A previous history of failure with IVF, especially when your doctor thinks that the quality of your eggs may be the problem.
The use of donor eggs is becoming more common, especially among women over 40. In 2005, about 12% of all assisted reproduction techniques used donor eggs. And the technique enjoys the highest success rate of all fertility procedures. In fact, women using fresh embryos (not frozen), have a 43.4% chance of getting pregnant in each cycle.
Due to life style and late marriage now women after 35 have less chncs and have poor overian responce and they some time do not have capacity to carry the pregnance. Women who are more than 37-40 years of age then resort to treatment of infertility by their gynecologist. If they still do not become pregnant they take help of newer technologies like IVF - In Vitro Fertilization (test-tube baby) or ICSI - Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection.
Women after the age of 40 tend to have fewer eggs in their ovaries or the quality of the eggs they produce may be poor. Thus, even new technologies like IVF and ICSI may not ensure a successful pregnancy.
In India, preference is given to younger couples to adopt children. Couples over the age of 45 can adopt, but find it difficult to do so, because of Governmental preference for younger parents. Such couples can tremendously benefit by egg donation. Women who have had multiple cycles of test-tube baby (IVF or ICSI) and have still failed to conceive and become pregnant.
Besides elderly or menopausal women, egg donation can be done in younger women whose ovaries have prematurely failed or in young women who have undergone radiation or chemotherapy for cancer. Radiation or chemotherapy destroys the eggs and hence these women have a failure of their ovaries. Egg donation is also used in patients who are carrying major chromosomal defects so that they do not pass the genetic defect to their children. Patients suffering from severe Tuberculosis and severe Endometriosis may also produce poor quality eggs and hence can be treated by egg donation.
