Blastocyst transfer with donor eggs

Hi there,

I’m about to start an IVF cycle using donor eggs, but we’ll use my husband’s sperm. He suffers from oligospermia, so it won’t be IVF but rather ICSI… I’ve been told that if the embryos are cultured to the blastocyst stage, the selection can be performed in better way. But since donor eggs are supposed to be of optimal quality, I don’t see the point on keeping them cultured up to blastocyst stage… isn’t it better if they are just transferred ASAP?

Dear Cassie,

Even though donor eggs are used, which means they are of good quality, you should bear in mind that the spermatozoon also provides half the genetic material. Thus, embryos of different quality could develop, especially if your husband has been diagnosed with oligospermia. If you’ve obtained a great amount of embryos, keeping them cultured up to blastocyst stage may be a good option, since this allows a better embryo selection to be done. Anyway, this decision shall be made by the embryologists are your clinic according to the number of embryos obtained and their quality.