Useful Information About the Egg Donation Process in Russia

Ovum or egg donation is a fertility treatment that is allowed by Russian law in cases where the woman is unable to contribute an egg of her own to have a baby.

It involves retrieving the eggs of the donor for their later fertilization in the lab, either with the intended father's or donor's sperm. Then, the embryos created from that union will be transferred to the maternal uterus, thereby allowing pregnancy to occur.

Types of egg donation

When undergoing donor-egg IVF, the woman who contributes can be anonymous or known to the intended parents. Russian regulations on medically assisted reproduction allows a close friend or relative to the individual or couple under treatment become their donor, aiming to achieve their dream of becoming parents.

On the other hand, should the intended parents not be willing to meet the donor, then the treatment of choice would also be IVF but with the eggs of an anonymous woman. Egg donor recruitment will be done by the fertility center's or egg bank's medical team where the patients are about to get started with the treatment.

In in a number of cases, the methodology followed with anonymous egg donation is the following: the clinic chooses a candidate, gives general information about her to the patients and, should they agree, the candidate will finally become their donor. If she did not meet their expectations, then the process would be started all over again with a second donor, a third, and so on.

If none of these prospective donors fit the intended parent's criteria, the couple will be ruled out from the egg donation program.

Usually, information provided to the prospective parents about their donor contains the following details: nationality, blood type, educational level, date of birth, height, weight, eye color and shape, hair color and type, skin tone, face shape, and the number of children she already has. The clinic cannot provide them with identifying data about her whatsoever.

Endometrial preparation of recipients

When a patient undergoes an IVF cycle using donor eggs, neither ovulation induction nor follicular puncture is required. Still, a specific hormone treatment should be followed in order for the endometrium to be prepared.

Implantation of human embryo

The endometrium can be defined as the uterine layer where embryos attach, which means the woman has gotten pregnant. Both embryo implantation and fetal development can be boosted if the endometrium reaches a triple line pattern and a thickness of around 7-10 mm.

Patients have to self-administer hormone medications—estrogens and progesterone— for 6 to 10 days. During that period of time, the patient will be monitored through ultrasound scan and blood tests, so that endometrial development can be assessed.

Once the endometrium is prepared, the embryo transfer is scheduled. It is nothing but a painless procedure which does not take too long, and furthermore anesthesia is not required.

Should it be an international patient, certain fertility clinics may allow them to get started with the treatment in their home country. By doing this, they only have to stay in Russia for the day of the embryo transfer.

Progesterone should continue to be administered up until the date when the pregnancy test can be taken. If pregnancy occurs, it should be extended until the 20th week of pregnancy.

After the embryo transfer, the patient can return to their home country and wait patiently for the result of the beta-hCG analysis, which will indicate whether she is pregnant or not.