Gamete donation – egg, sperm or embryo donation – is a very sensitive aspect of fertility treatment both because of the nature of the treatment itself but also because of the restricted number of donors.
Sperm Donation
Sperm donation is indicated in cases in which the male partner has severe problems with the sperm and no treatment is possible (such as azoospermia, severe oligo-teratozzospermia etc). Sperm donation can be also an option for single women who wish to create embryos with their own eggs and donor sperm in order to have a family.
Usually the sperm that is used is frozen. The women will be given stimulation injections to produce eggs. Once the eggs are harvested, they will get fertilized by the donor’s sperm in the laboratory. The embryos that will be created in the laboratory will be transferred into woman’s womb. The law also requires that the donor undergoes a a long list of blood tests to safeguard the health of the recipient and the embryo that will be created.
Egg Donation
Some women are not able to use their own eggs for pregnancy for multiple reasons such as:
-Surgical removal of the ovaries.
-Ovarian malignancies.
-Infertility resulting from previous chemotherapy / radiotherapy because of cancer.
-Hereditary diseases that can be passed by women to male children.
-Early menopause and premature ovarian failure.
-Women at advanced age, usually older than 45 years old.
-Poor responders, who despite treatment with maximal doses of drugs, are unable to produce enough eggs to have reasonable chances of pregnancy.
-Women with repeated failure in previous fertility treatment with their own eggs.
-Multiple miscarriages.
The procedure can be done with either fresh or frozen donor eggs.
-In the fresh cycle the egg donor undergoes ovarian stimulation to produce eggs. After the egg collection the recipient’s husband sperm will be used to fertilize the donor’s eggs in the laboratory. The recipient’s menstrual cycle is synchronized to that of the donor in order to prepare her uterus for the embryo transfer. The embryos created by the donor’s eggs and the recipient’s husband sperm are transferred into the recipient’s womb the proper time.
-In the frozen cycle, the donor’s eggs are frozen. The recipient’s uterus is prepared to receive the embryos. Once the endometrial cavity is ready, the donor’s eggs are thawed and fertilized in the laboratory by the recipient’s husband sperm. The embryos will be transferred into the recipient’s womb.
Pregnancy rates with donor eggs are significantly higher because egg donors are usually at a young age (between 20-30 years old).
Embryo Donation
In extreme cases, when both egg and sperm cannot be used, the couple may seek for embryo donation. The embryo will be created in the laboratory by double donation, means donor eggs and donor sperm.
The Greek legislation has been reviewed recently
The NEW legislation is one of the most advanced fertility legislations in Europe. According to the new law, there 3 option for egg or sperm donation:
- Totally unknown donor (anonymity) – the identity of the egg / sperm donor will not be made known to the recipient (anonymity) and of course the identity of the recipient will be totally unknown to the donor. In that case, some characteristics of the donors are always available so they can be matched successfully with the recipients. Such characteristics are skin, eye and hair colour, blood type, height, weight, nationality, hobbies, and some other features that may be important for the recipient.
- Known donor – the couple can have their known donor which can be a relative (cases that incest may occur are forbidden) or a friend or a person of their choice.
- Unknown donor whose identity can be known only to the child after the age of 18 years.
There are no waiting lists for donor egg treatment and many more that make your journey to your baby easiest than anywhere else.
Also, at the moment, according to the new law, the procedure of embryotransfer is performed until the recipient reaches 54 years of age. That means women older than 54 years of old they cannot have embryotransfer even using donor eggs.