Egg donation: How is the egg donor selection accomplished?

The egg donation or egg donation fertility treatment allows being able to have children using a donors egg and the partner’s semen, or a donor’s depending on each case. It is carried out by an in vitro fertilization. The process is relatively simple and comfortable for the recipient woman since it is not necessary to undergo an ovarian stimulation.

But this treatment´s success is only possible thanks to the donors’ help. In Vida Fertility Institute we are totally aware of the importance of the donor selection.

It is one of the most frequently asked questions during visits and that is why we want to dedicate this space to explaining how we make the selection. So far, we follow strict criteria in order to find the most suitable donor for each patient.

In Egg Donations, what are the requirements for being an egg donor?

In the first place, it is important to note that egg donation in Spain is regulated by law and stipulates the necessary requirements for being a donor and the tests our donors take before being admitted into our egg donation program.

Specifically:

Being of an age in between 18 and 35, although in practice our donors are 32 years old tops.
Demonstrating a good psychological condition, after the interviews and psychological evaluations we have our donors go through. This allows us to rule out the existence of psychopathies and assure the donor is emotionally prepared for the donation and what it implies.
Being eligible after medical and gynecological exams with ultrasound and cytology exploration, as well as testing negative in serological tests and other additional blood tests, such as karyotype and other genetic tests.
Having an adequate BMI (Body Mass Index) that guarantees the donor’s safety during treatment (taking medication, oocyte puncture).
Having no record or history of genetic alterations or other hereditary diseases, on a personal level as well as in the family.

In practice, this means that out of all candidates for being a donor, only 30% are accepted since we follow a very rigorous and exhaustive selection process.

To this we must add other legal aspects:

The law in Spain determines that the donations ought to be completely anonymous. This means that in no case will the recipient woman, nor the children born, be able to know the identity of the donor, nor the donor the identity of any of them.
Furthermore, the donation cannot have a lucrative or commercial aim since it is an altruistic act. In that sense, the donors are compensated solely for the physical discomforts of the procedure and other absences from work or travel expenses that could derive from the treatment.

So what motivates someone to donate eggs?

Donors’ motivations are usually very varied: helping other people since many are blood, marrow or tissue donors (Spain is world leader in blood and organ donation, 100% voluntary and unpaid) and are very sensitized; young mother who want to help other women to experience motherhood thanks to an egg donation treatment, and there are other donors who are also interested in the compensation they receive for the distress the procedure may have caused them.

Above all, the important thing is that all of them be aware of their decision and live it as a way to help other women.

How do we choose your egg donor?

In Spain, the law compels the donor selection to be made by the team of specialists in the clinic. In Vida our donor selection team is composed of gynecologists, embryologists, nurses and patient assistance staff, as well as the psychology team.

All of them will participate in the selection process to find the donor that best fits each patient following the criteria of:

Physical similarity: race and physical complexion, skin tones, eye color, texture and hair color.
Immunological compatibility: blood type and RH.
Genetic exam: we have all our donors take a genetic compatibility test . This test is a screening for monogenetic diseases which helps us determine the risk of transmitting genetic diseases to offspring. This implies that donors who do not have a normal karyotype or those who show mutations linked to the X chromosome (such as Fragile X Syndrome associated with an inherited intellectual disability) will not be accepted.
Moreover, we recommend for those cases in which the male partner provides the semen, a genetic compatibility test be carried out the same as the donor takes. That way we can perform the genetic matching between the two and assure the future embryo is free of genetic mutations that are responsible for more than 600 hereditary diseases.

National donor registry in Spain

In Spain there is an IT platform where all the information about reproduction techniques that are performed in national territory are registered. In this platform we also register all the information about the donors, indicating the number of donations made and the result of these. Since, by law, they cannot exceed a certain number of donations (no more than 6), all this while maintaining the anonymity of the donors at all times.

Therefore, a woman being eligible does not mean she can be a donor forever. This allows us to manage the donor assignation processes safely and with total transparency and to offer reassurance to egg donation patients.

Your egg donation pregnancy

In Vida we are experts in Assisted Reproduction such as Egg Donation. We differ ourselves by the multidisciplinary approach we apply to each patient and the later personalization of their treatment which will be exclusive.

The egg donation treatment has higher pregnancy rates than those of other treatments. The pregnancy rates in oocyte recipient patients is approximately 72% in the first attempt.

Your first visit is free!

If you have any more questions or want to speak directly to a fertility specialist: your first visit if free of charge. No obligation, contact us and we will be happy to go through with you.