Donors

From the antibiotic revolution to organ transplantation, modern medicine has improved life for people around the world in countless ways. One of the most remarkable achievements of the last half-century is the introduction of assisted reproductive technology (ART), used to treat infertility.

Assisted reproductive techniques include in-vitro fertilization, which involves extracting eggs from a woman’s ovaries and fertilizing them outside her body (in a lab) with sperm from her partner or a donor. The resulting embryo is then transferred to the woman’s uterus with the goal of establishing a successful pregnancy.

On July 25, 1978, the first-ever baby was born successfully from in-vitro fertilization in Manchester, England. Her name is Louise Joy Brown, and today she has two children of her own.

Using a donor egg for IVF is a delicate process with many steps and no guarantee of success.

Specifically, there’s no way to be sure whether a given donor egg will be successful in producing a live, healthy child at the end of the process. Egg donation data can give us an idea of how likely success might be, however.

The U.S. average rate for egg donations resulting in a live birth is about 50-70% for a fresh donor cycle but is dependent on factors such as partner sperm, uterus, and skill of the clinic. .

Each stage of the process also has its own success rates: the chance of a fertilized donor egg producing properly developing embryos is about 80%, the chance that those embryos will implant correctly in a uterus is about 75-85%, and the chance of clinical pregnancy is about 50-75%.

Factors That Affect Success Rates

While medical science has continued to research and innovate to improve egg donor IVF success rates, there are still many things we can’t predict or control. Various genetic, physical, and chemical factors can affect the quality of an egg, but those aren’t easy to assess. Sometimes, a donor’s eggs may be considered of good quality if she’s successfully had children before. Or, if she is young and has a good number of follicles of a good AMh test. Numerous environmental factors can also affect the chances of success, such as the health of the recipient, the quality of the sperm and the competence of the treating IVF facility.

It’s important to note that success rates can also differ significantly between IVF clinics. Clinics with higher rates of success may have more experience, better equipment, and better methods for success (though there may be other factors, like access to a younger, healthier population). Whatever the case, prospective parents should be aware that the clinic can make a difference when it comes to the outcome of a donor egg.  Five factors contribute to the success of an IVF pregnancy: the egg, the sperm, the uterus, the physician and the embryologist.  All five must be in harmony to have a successful outcome.

IVF Success Rates for women Over 40: How Age Affects Results

As a woman ages, her reproductive capabilities naturally taper off. The quality and number of her eggs and her chances for pregnancy decline over time, eventually culminating in menopause. Because of these natural changes, women over 35-40 often have trouble conceiving, both naturally and when using their own eggs in IVF.

With a donor egg from a younger woman, the effects of age are essentially reversed, drastically improving egg donor success rates for all women especially those 40-45. In a non-donor IVF procedure, women between 40-41 have an estimated 19% chance of success, but by the time a woman reaches 45, her success with IVF and her own eggs is less than 2%. By contrast, donor egg recipients with an average age of 41.8 had an incredible 51% success rate on the first fresh cycle and combined with frozen cycles can be over 70%.

How Are Donor Egg Success Rates and IVF Success Rates Different?

When people talk about IVF, they’re usually talking about non-donor situations in which a woman provides her own eggs. In this context, IVF success rates are affected by genetic and physical factors related to using one’s own eggs. Donation success rates differ in that any negative factors that may have affected a woman’s own eggs are eliminated by using a donor. This is why egg donor success rates are typically higher than standard IVF rates.