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What is an egg bank?

An egg bank is found at a fertility clinic or a licensed facility where a woman donates or shares her eggs to be used in IVF treatment. This enables couples or individuals who struggle with infertility to start a family. Egg donors are women who are not receiving treatment for fertility but who plan to donate their eggs to help other women. An egg sharer is a woman undergoing fertility treatment but who donates some of their eggs as part of their IVF treatment.

What happens during the egg donation process?

• Matching – A donor is selected by an intended parent, and they are contacted by a coordinator to see if she is available to cycle.
• Initial labs – Lab tests check the blood type of the donor and tests for chlamydia. The lab determines the donor’s anti-mullerian hormone (AMH), which is the ovarian reserve of the donor, as an indicator as to how well they will retrieve.
• Screening – the donor has counselling to check that she is mentally prepared for the egg donation process.
• Initial appointment – The donor has a physical examination and an ultrasound to check her ovaries. She is prescribed birth control to sync her cycle to where it needs to be for retrieval.
• Medication – A retrieval date will be set and the donor will go back to the clinic to receive medical training and a calendar. The donor is to self-administrate injections, which will stimulate the ovarian follicles to produce eggs and temporarily suppress ovulation.
• Monitoring – During the self-administrating injection process, the donor is required to attend monitoring appointments for routine blood tests and ultrasounds. This is to ensure that her body is responding to the injections. The donor is shown how and when to take the trigger shot, which is usually taken 36 hours before retrieval.
• Retrieval – this process takes about 30 minutes. An ultrasound-guided needle is inserted through the vaginal wall and into the ovarian follicles to extract the matured eggs.

Why would someone choose to receive an egg donation?

A doctor may recommend egg donation for different reasons. A woman may produce low-quality eggs, have no ovaries or no eggs at all. Perhaps a woman has had their ovaries removed due to treatment for cancer through chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Some women may have suffered from early menopause or an inherited condition such as Turner syndrome.

Some couples may have been unsuccessful with IVF treatment, or there is a genetic disorder, which is at risk of being inherited by a child. Someone may be without a partner and decide that they want to raise a child regardless.