Oocyte donation in Argentina

1) Can we meet the donor?

As our program requires anonymity, you are not allowed to meet the donor or see her photograph. The patient must trust the professional and the reproduction center where she decides to undergo treatment and wait till she can be given the available and authorized data about the donor.

It is essential that the relationship between doctor and recipient-patient should be very good and, if possible, even warm and affectionate, so that the recipient may leave the choice of the donor “in the hands” of the professional or the reproduction center. If it is the recipient’s wish, she can be given the information available and authorized by the center.



2) Can you guarantee that my child will look like me?

Donors are chosen to match recipients on the basis of certain similar traits. We usually tell our patients not to worry: "Your children will not be very different from you." On the other hand, the recipient’s partner will contribute half of the genetic information, and many people will consider the child resembles both parents in a way or another. Dr. Fiszbajn and CEGyR offer a process of “responsible” compatibilization between donor and recipient, based on their 20 years’ experience and their national and international prestige.



3) Will people notice that I have gone through this treatment?

No, no one will know that you have gone through an oocyte donation treatment. Some of your friends or acquaintances, mainly those who have had difficulties to conceive and gone through similar problems, may suspect that you have had to turn to some kind of assisted fertilization treatment, but they will not know which kind of treatment was chosen.

As for the child’s physical traits, we can assure you that no one will know either, since half the people will say he or she resembles dad and the other half that he or she resembles mom.



4) What is the donor’s motivation?

Although there is a monetary compensation covering loss of profits, travel expenses, risk, etc., there is an altruistic motivation in donors that is an important part in the decision to donate. We have inferred this from an anonymous survey of donors in which 65% of them answered that they would donate again even if they were not offered a monetary compensation. This altruistic decision involves mainly helping another woman to bear a child.



5) Do I have to tell my parents, friends and my future child that I underwent an oocyte donation treament?

The decision of telling your children about the treatment followed by their parents to achieve pregnancy and childbirth is personal, and thus it is the parents' choice to disclose that information or not.

Current psychological and social trends agree that the children should know the truth, because this is better not only for their psychological and social development, but also for the engagement in mature and healthy family relationships.

It is important to be aware that if this information begins to be shared and discussed with close acquaintances and relatives, at some point it may reach your children’s ears. Thus, it is advisable that they should receive that information directly from their parents.

If you decide to tell your child the truth, it is also desirable to have a previous talk with therapists specialized in this area to get the proper advice on “when and how” it is the right time and way to approach the subject.



6) Do I have to go through a genetic treatment if I get pregnant?

As recipients generally are 35, 40 or even 50, they tend to believe that they should go through a genetic test to discard certain disorders associated with the increase of the woman’s age. However, genetic disorders that come with the woman’s age are associated with the oocyte, and as in these cases the oocytes are donated by women under 35, there is no need to go through these tests.

The recipient can go through a genetic test like a chorionic biopsy if she desires, but the risk of a genetic disorder is very low, similar to the one associated with a 20-35 year-old woman.



7) Why is oocyte donation in your center anonymous?

Anonymity is part of our regulations, and we consider it consistent with the idiosyncrasy of our society. This procedure is similar in many other reproduction centers in Argentina and most of South America.

We think it is the best option for the recipient. Even if we are aware this is not the case in US and some European countries, and that many studies claim that the recipient’s knowledge of the donor’s identity (non-anonymity) is probably better both for the children to be born and their families, for the time being this regulation will not be modified in our center.



8) Is it advisable to use 4 or 8 oocytes in my treatment?

As a general rule, I consider that using 4 high quality oocytes is enough to obtain 2-3 embryos with an excellent implantation potential and to have a 45-50% clinical pregnancy rate. With this choice there are very few chances to cryopreserve embryos, so that if the procedure fails, you have to repeat it. Using 8 oocytes increases pregnancy rates only by 7% since I will be able to select the embryos to be transferred from a wider range and possibly to cryopreserve some. Transfer of cryopreserved embryos has a 25% clinical pregnancy rate and using 8 oocytes increases the treatment costs. Using either 4 or 8 oocytes are both valid options that must be discussed between patients and doctor.



9) Why are only 2 embryos transferred?

The decision to transfer only 2 embryos was taken after observing that when 3-4 embryos were transferred in these treatments, sometimes there could be pregnancies with triplets or quadruplets, with the corresponding risks. We have to bear in mind that oocyte donation treatments are generally followed by women that are 40, 45 and even 50, and a pregnancy with triplets or quadruplets at this age involves a high chance of abortion and a significant risk for the mother.

On the other hand, our statistics (coinciding with data from the most important reproduction centers in the world) show that the transfers of 2 high quality embryos result in excellent and acceptable pregnancy rates, as in our case, since we obtained a 47.5% percent of clinical pregnancies in 2006, with a 20% of twin pregnancies.



10) Is it worth cryopreserving embryos?

The decision to cryopreserve entails two benefits. On the one hand, the authorization to cryopreserve allows me to use all the oocytes available: 4, 5 or even 6 (unless the patient has accepted to use 8) and thus I will be able to let all the embryos develop and then select the 2 embryos to be transferred from a wider range. If you decide not to cryopreserve, we will always use 4 oocytes, but we will only let 2 of them develop so that we will not have to discard embryos (as cryopreserving is not an option), a practice which is not allowed by our center. In this way, we cannot choose the embryos to be transferred. It is understood that when cryopreservation is accepted we will have more pregnancy chances since we can make a better selection of the embryos to be transferred. On the other hand, cryopreservation gives you the possibility of performing a second transfer at a very low cost, although the pregnancy rates will be 25%, which means they will be reduced by approximately half. First, because cryopreserved embryos have not so many chances as fresh ones. Second, because the process of cryopreservation and thawing causes some minor damage to embryos which reduces their chances.



11) Why should I go through an oocyte donation treatment in Argentina with Dr. Fiszbajn?

Dr. Gabriel Fiszbajn has been in the field of reproductive medicine for the last 20 years. He is an Associate Director and Chief of the CEGyR Department of Reproductive Medicine. He is also a renowned specialist in Argentina, where he regularly gives lectures and teaches courses on the subject. He has written many research papers and published a very large number of articles in scientific journals and general interest magazines.

CEGyR, the organization where he practices, is the most important and prestigious human reproduction center in Argentina and one of the most renowned in South America. The first fecundations with an in vitro fertilization technique and the first ICSI in Argentina were performed in this center and nowadays about 900 high-complexity assisted fertilization cases are covered there every year. In 2006 there were 245 cases of oocyte donation with 47.5% of clinical pregnancies. Dr. Fiszbajn also works with many patients from abroad and is used to keeping regular contact with them by e-mail, developing an ongoing and humane relationship with all his patients, which is beneficial for the success of the treatment.