Making sure my donor eggs are of an exceptional quality

Hello there,

we are going to start a surrogacy procedure soon and due to premature ovarian failure I’ve no choice but to use donor eggs, so the possibility of using my own eggs has been dismissed. We are going to use my husband’s sperm, though. Our biggest fear is that donor eggs are not good enough for us, have some genetic abnormality or whatever. We don’t want our baby to develop a malformation or genetic abnormality, etc. How can I make sure my donor eggs are of an exceptional quality?

Hello there,

egg donors have to undergo a series of medical analyses in order to verify they are actually healthy women, without family history of severe diseases related to their genetic code. Besides, you should keep in mind they are young girls, which translates into high quality eggs. As you know, egg quantity and quality keep on diminishing over time, so the younger you are, the healthier your eggs will be, and the contrary applies the other way way about.

Even though they have to pass a thorough screening process in order to reduce the odds of the embryo to develop any genetic abnormality, the final result won’t ever be 100% accurate, since new alterations might appear before these tests have been carried out or be an undetectable abnormality in the eggs. However, as I said, they undergo several tests and examinations, which makes the appearance of genetic abnormalities linked to the egg is highly unlikely.

On the other hand, there is a genetic analysis called “preimplantation genetic diagnosis” or “preimplantation genetic screening (PGD or PGS), in which the embryo is genetically analyzed before being transferred in order to select only those embryos that are free from genetic diseases. Nonetheless, this technique is not advisable when donor eggs are used, because donor eggs are of exceptional quality, as I mentioned earlier. PGD, for its part, is performed in cases of advanced maternal age or family history of genetic alterations.

I hope I have been able to help,

Regards