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Oocyte Donation
Relevant information about Oocyte Donation.
Oocyte Donation is a fertility treatment in which a fertile female individual provides certain amount of oocytes, which are the female reproductive cells. The treatment can be used to help female individuals that are infertile or who have pass their reproductive years to achieve pregnancy. The donated oocytes are also useful for biomedical purposes.
The main goal of the procedure is to allow female individuals who cannot naturally conceive to become pregnant. Female infertility can have at least two major causes. The first one is infertility as an innate characteristic of the individual, the second is infertility related with menopause. Innate female infertility includes both inability of conception and inability of carrying a pregnancy to full term. Inability of conception happens when an ovulation problem exists and no oocytes are created. Inability of carrying a pregnancy to full term happens when the tubes from the ovaries are obstructed or when due to a problem in the uterus the whole pregnancy process cannot be fulfilled. In case of having a problem in the uterus, a surgery may be required in order to allow the individual to receive the donated oocytes. Infertility caused by menopause is a natural process that happens to all female individuals after certain age. Menopause consists on the end of the menstruation and ovulation cycle. It has three different phases. The first is called premenopause and consists on the previous years leading up to the last menstruation. During this phase the reproductive hormones production diminishes drastically. The second phase is the menopause itself and consists on the date after the last menstruation. After this date, it is considered that the individual has become infertile. The third phase is called post menopause and consists on the rest of the life of a female individual after menopause. During this period the reproductive hormones production ceases completely and the ovaries become inactive.
First, the candidates are selected. They must be women between 20 and 31 years, with normal weight, who do not smoke or use drugs. After the future donors have been selected, the procedure begins once they start to have their menstrual period. During the first seven days of this cycle, oral contraconceptives are given. This is a test to verify that the ovaries are correctly functioning. One to two weeks before the next menstrual period, Lupron injections are administered during three to four weeks. Once the menstrual period begins, FSH injections are added to the Lupron during 10 days. Lupron prevents premature release of the oocytes and FSH, which is a hormone, stimulates their maturation. The oocytes production and maturation is monitored with ultrasound. When they reach a certain level of maturation, Lupron and FSH are replaced by a single injection of HCG hormone. This hormone triggers the final development stages of the oocytes. The procedure continues with a non surgical intervention during which the mature oocytes are retrieved from the donor’s reproductive system. The donor is put lying on her back and an aspirating device with a void needle is introduced inside the vagina until it reaches the space behind the uterus where the ovaries are located. This part of the procedure is done under ultrasound guidance. Once the device is near the ovaries, it is put inside their follicles and aspirates the follicular fluid from them. The reproductive cells exist inside this fluid and are recognized using a microscope. The aspirating device may be used twice, one time for each ovary.
The post treatment process is minimal. After the donation procedure, the donor will be transferred to a recovery room for at least two hours. During the day she will be able to return home, resuming by the next day her normal activities. It is expected that the next menstruation period will begin normally.
Complications can be both physiological and psychological. The physiological complications involve bleeding after the procedure or ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome, which is caused by a reaction to the hormones given. This syndrome sometimes can cause liver failure. The psychological complications include repent or incapacity to accept donation of her own oocytes. However, both complications are rare and psychological complications are even rarer because all the donors are psychologically evaluated before being accepted.
The treatment allows a fertile female individual to donate oocytes that can be used to help infertile female individuals to achieve pregnancy.
There is a high probability of achieving pregnancy using fertile women oocytes. However, the treatment does not assure a completely successful pregnancy. Many complications may happen.
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