Unique Content Article: What You Should Know About Egg Donation As An Assisted Reproductive Option

What You Should Know About Egg Donation As An Assisted Reproductive Option

by Heidi J. Dillon

One of the causes of female infertility is the inability to release healthy ova, or eggs each month. When this is found to be the cause, one route fertility doctors might suggest is egg donation. This procedure involves the use of a donor egg from another woman, which is then fertilized and implanted into the womb of the recipient.

More often than not, candidates for this approach are older women, possibly close to menopause, who may fail to ovulate reliably or the quality of their own eggs may be questionable due to their age. Chemotherapy or surgical removal of the ovaries are other reasons for using this approach. A family doctor or gynecologist can recommend these women for treatment at a facility that performs this procedure.

Generally this type of fertility treatment is fairly expensive, as are most assisted reproductive technology procedures. The price may range from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars depending on the facility and physician. Normally this cost encompasses each step of the process from initial screening through to implantation and the donor's compensation. A legal contract covering rights and responsibilities will need to be signed by both parties.

Sometimes the donor will be a friend or family member, but in most cases this woman will be chosen in an anonymous manner from a large database. Patients in search of a donor can look for someone who matches their preferences for physical appearance, ethnic and religious background, and educational level. Anyone they are interested in, will be given a letter of introduction written by the recipient, and if their is mutual interest, this is a match.

Synchronization of the donor's and recipient's menstrual cycles is the first step in the process. This involves assessing the donor's ovarian function on the first day of her period by blood tests and ultrasound and placing her on birth control pills to regulate and monitor it. Other fertility medications will also need to be taken by the donor in the form of pills and injections.

Over a month's time, the donor will not only need to take oral contraceptives, but she will also need to inject herself with the hormone gonadotropin daily in order to suppress her natural ovulation cycle. After these two medications are discontinued, the donor will menstruate at a pre-determined time in sync with the recipient's cycle, this is necessary for successful implantation.

The next step involves the recipient taking a daily injection so her ovaries will mature many eggs, their maturation will be monitored by ongoing ultrasound checks and blood tests. When the eggs are ready, an injection of human chorionic gonadotropin will be taken to aid in their release, and in a day or so they can be harvested and fertilized with the male partner's sperm. The recipient is also given a course of injections to prepare her womb lining and suppress ovulation. A cervical catheter will then be used to introduce two to four embryos into the uterus.

Many couples become parents through this procedure, although sometimes in vitro techniques fail, and the pregnancy ends in miscarriage. The hormones taken can also cause side effects in some patients such as breast tenderness, mood swings, hot flashes, and very rarely pain and swelling from hyper-stimulation of the ovaries.



When you are looking for information about <a href="http://infertilitytexas.com/tubal-reanastomosis.php">infertility</a>, you should visit our website at http://infertilitytexas.com today. You can see details on procedures at http://infertilitytexas.com/tubal-reanastomosis.php now.

---------------------------------------------------
You are receiving this because you signed up for it on 2011-11-27 from IP 188.29.196.69
To fine-tune your selection of which articles to receive, just login here:

http://www.uniquearticlewizard.com/bloggers/

using your username:

To unsubscribe please use the following link:

http://www.uniquearticlewizard.com/unsubscribe.php?mail=nightcabcontroller.sante1@blogger.com&code=f1f5baef192407461ee7ffe7468a92d2
---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
New Unique Article!

Title: What You Should Know About Egg Donation As An Assisted Reproductive Option
Author: Heidi J. Dillon
Email: adsites@uberarticles.com
Keywords: egg donation,fertility,infertility
Word Count: 545
Category: Women%27s Issues
---------------------------------