In general, donor eggs are often recommended to those wome whom has repeated failed IVF treatments, who are in late 40, who have low ovarian reserve or early ovarium insufficiency. It is absolutely reasonable to really think about using donor eggs, because at that stage, women are facing 2 options: (1) to using their own eggs with chance of success is as low as a few percentage. In theory, among those over 40, chance of getting pregnant is around 5-8% for each cycle. This chance even getting worse rapidly as the women is aging. (2) to have donor eggs with much higher chance of getting pregnancy: the chance of a fertilized donor egg producing properly developing embryos is about 80%, the chance that those embryos will implant in an uterus is about 75-85%, and the chance of clinical pregnancy is about 55-65%. Certainly, there are other factors which can affect the success of a pregnancy, but around 60% can be expected from a donor egg’s outcome.
In Hungary, using donor eggs is not a social norm. There are stil social attitute barrier and legal restrictions to have this: the egg donor can only be a direct relative of the couple, under 35 years of age, who has given birth at least once, has a living child and her spouse also agrees to the egg donation, etc.. From the side of the receiver, not every couple have access to information towards donor eggs and steps to get into this stage.
Of course there are „small windows” for those who is capable to seek for donor eggs with much less legal and social barriers. These options are available in some assisted reproductive centers in the Czech Repeblic, Croatia, Spain, and so on.
Obviously using donor eggs is a tough decision to make, from a physical- mental and also financial point of view. It is no doubt that a couple need a lot of information before really step into this process, and once they are in, they also have to follow a protocol. A lot of confusion can happend along the way, especially it is the case of their baby, so it is recommended to have a list of things to do and things to ask- do not hesitate to ask your doctors and nurses about the procedure, its pros and cons. The more understandable the protocol is to you, the more cooperation you have with your treatment team and therefore the better chance of success you may have.
Like any other treatment, there is no guarantee that IVF cycle with donor eggs cannot fail. It was showed that even the best looking, perfect, strongest embryos from donor eggs still could not successfully implant and develop in the uterus in many cases. The chance of success depend on many other factors, not only on the eggs’ quality, but also on the quality of the sperm, the quality of the women’s uterus, her endometrium, how her immune function, how the coagulation system function, and other factors that may not known yet to medical knowledge. However, IVF cycle with donor egg is still having highest success rate among IVF treatments, especially for women over 40 years old. When you are already recommended by your doctor about this option, think about it seriously, look for information, ask your doctors for information if there is still a lot of confusion. At the end, it is a very personal decision. There is no good or bad decision- it is your choice. But a decision in time make a huge difference, especially when time is not on your side.
If you look for more information of egg donors, we really recommend this site, where information is not only from doctors’ side, but also from the patient’s side, for the sake of better chance of success for women.