When Donor Egg Cycles Suddenly Fail: Potential Reasons

1. 🩺 Several Explanations for Why Egg Donor Cycles Fail

Several Explanations for Why Egg Donor Cycles Fail

The IVF method was first developed in 1983. Although it has been showing steadily brilliant results, sometimes the egg donation process may fail accidentally. Although all these reasons of failure cannot occur simultaneously, clients are always eager to learn what happened in such cases when egg donation process fails:

1. The age of donor.
   Although many doctors think that the main criterion is the general state of an egg donor’s health, it is not actually so. It is really necessary to examine the general state of health if a woman wants to become an egg donor. However, an age of potential donor is considered an even more important criterion because age always influences the quality and number of eggs themselves. If a potential donor is too young or too old, her ovarian reserve can be limited. Moreover, too young donors may suffer from an Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome. Doctors suggest that the age of 26-35 years old is ideal for becoming an egg donor.
   
   
2. The quality of biomaterial.

   Unfortunately, age is not the only reason why donor egg ivf fails. It may happen so due to the poor quality of an egg itself. Such situation can be caused by some lifestyle trouble, for example, smoking or drug abuse, or by different genetic defects of an egg or an embryo. Sometimes, it may be just the wrong egg. Not all eggs are perfectly healthy even if they are released from the ovary, especially when artificial stimulation to release several eggs simultaneously is used. The donor may be pretty healthy, but artificial hormones can disrupt the natural processes in specific individual case, so each case should be evaluated on its own.

3. A preparation course.

   If a woman wants to become a donor of egg, she must prepare her body for this process under strict control of doctors. For example, it is necessary to get a special stimulation course with daily injections of hormones. Unfortunately, all hormonal drugs have different side effects, and they may influence the state of the body in different ways. That is why donor egg ivf fails due to these side effects. In this case, it is necessary to consult the doctor on all issues from the medication dose up to the course duration before starting the stimulation.

4. Unprotected sex.

   All potential egg donors should be clearly instructed that unprotected sex is very undesirable during the egg donation cycle. Moreover, any experiments with contraception methods are prohibited as well because of a high probability of pregnancy in this period. It is impossible to get eggs for a donation if a donor is pregnant. Therefore, pay attention to good protection if you want to become a donor.

5. Implantation failure.

   When egg donor for ivf fails, it is not always due to the quality of biomaterial. Sometimes a real reason can be in implantation failure. It may happen so because of the state of the uterine lining, cysts, polyps, or other diseases. For this reason, the egg recipient always needs good screening, diagnosis, and treatment.

6. Uterine lining.

   The condition of uttering lining of a woman is extremely important in the IVF process. If an intended or a surrogate mother has too thin uterine lining, the doctor may cancel the implantation because of the high probability of failure. In this case, a special course of drugs will help to improve this situation and make uterine lining thicker.

If you want to become an egg donor, keep in mind that you should have a good state of health, get a full medical examination, and consult your doctor. In addition, it is necessary to keep to a healthy lifestyle and be ready to complete a stimulation course before donation. To ensure higher chances for successful donation of the egg, the donor should do what depends on her, to provide proper biological material. the surrogate mother or intended mother, in her turn, should do everything possible for her body to be able to accept the embryo. Otherwise, all the donor’s efforts and all the doctor’s and clinic’s efforts will be useless.

Authors, contributors:

Oleksii Tishchenko
Fertility specialist

published: 10 April 2018
updated   : 24 July 2020

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