Vox Reader Quentin Ampersand asks: How safe is egg donation? Are there any negative long-term effects? How well is the health impacts understood?
Egg donations occupy a rare place in American medicine and culture. The use of donor eggs is very common. In 2022 alone, over 20,000 in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles using donor eggs (the most recent year when data are available). However, this process is not often discussed publicly either. When I was researching this question, I was about to all about donating eggs to someone else, and about people who freeze their own eggs (including me) I found two media stories.
Given the lack of relative conversations about the process, it makes sense to start with the basics. When someone is considering donating eggs, they usually reach out to the clinic and go through a screening process to ensure they meet eligibility requirements, and others that risk the STI or tissue. Please make sure there are no conditions for this. If everything looks good, donors take medication to stimulate the ovaries and produce more eggs than usual (one study shows that compared to one or two studies per month ). They then undergo a short surgical procedure to extract the eggs. Eggs are usually frozen until the recipient decides to use them.
Some people donate eggs to friends and family. Others donate to the egg bank so that those who don't meet the egg can use it. People who donate to the bank typically receive some financial compensation for the process. Donor egg payments are the subject of controversy, especially as research shows that white donors can receive more money than black donors. Some clinics often have standard rates for all donors, about $10,000, and the American Association of Reproductive Medicine makes donors who make informed decisions by making payments less expensive. It is recommended to cloud the abilities of the
Egg donations also pose some short-term health risks, which are usually easy to manage with good health care. But you (and others) want to know about potential long-term risks. Will egg donations harm future fertility rates? Does it cause cancer?
Let's break down what we know.
What are the most common risks of egg donation?
Medically, the process of donating eggs is essentially the same as the process of freezing your own eggs or extracting them for IVF. The most common side effects are the same. Injectable drugs that stimulate the ovaries can cause bloating, mood swings and pain at the site of the injection. Surgeries to remove eggs are very fast and are usually performed on an outpatient basis, but like surgery, there is a slight risk of infection or bleeding.
Beyond these concerns, the biggest egg donors that egg donors, such as IVF and patients who freeze eggs, must be careful of, are conditions called ovarian quinox sensory syndrome, which causes maintenance of the ovaries of the ovaries. . In severe cases, this can cause dehydration and even short-term kidney problems. Amanda Adeleye, founding partner at CCRM Fertility in Chicago and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Illinois in Chicago, says that the condition is highly treatable as long as patients are aware of the signs and get timely care. .
Less than 1% of people who are ovarian stimulating suffer from severe polar stimulation syndrome, but patients under the age of 35 are at higher risk than older people.
These are the best known health risks of egg donation, and if you are going through the procedure, your doctor will show you how to find them and process them.
However, in recent years, some patients and their families have raised concerns about the possible long-term impact of the procedure.
What do you know about long-term risks?
One question donors and donors have is whether the procedure could affect future fertility. So far, there is no evidence that it will do. Retrieving eggs for donations does not deplete a person's ovarian sanctuary. “Eggs collected from the ovarian stimulation cycle are eggs that die that month anyway,” Adeley said.
However, Adeleye tells patients that every ovarian stimulation cycle carries a small risk of ovarian twisting, causing the ovaries to twist inside the body and block the blood supply. This can lead to ovarian loss, which can injure a person's fertility. The outcome is “very rare,” Adeley said.
Another big question that future patients have is about cancer risk. Researchers and their families have reported cases of egg donors who develop breast, colon, or other cancers in the years after egg donation. There is no evidence that the donation process is the cause, but the report has raised concerns. And healthy.
According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, currently available studies show that common fertility treatments (including egg donations, egg freezes, and IVF) increase the risk of breast and colon cancer. It has been shown to be unrelated. Breast cancer in particular is unfortunately very common, including young people, and reports that donors may be derived from a high prevalence of breast cancer for several years after donation, according to Society President Micah Hill states. Supplementary reproductive technology.
Fertility treatment may be associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer and a type of unpopular ovarian tumor, but the risk of any of these conditions is very low. The overall risk for women with ovarian cancer during their lifetime is 1 in 87, with ovarian cancer cases and deaths reduced. In the case of ovarian cancer, the increased risk may be due not to the infertility pills themselves but to the underlying conditions that cause infertility.
Overall, “The data is “safe” about fertility drugs and cancer risk, Hill said. Although some hormonal drugs are associated with cancer, patients may be concerned about egg-giving or use of hormones in IVF, estrogen and progesterone levels in the body during birth treatment are Hill said that in practice, estrogen and progesterone during pregnancy are actually much lower. Ovarian stimulation for egg donations lasts for only a few weeks. It's much shorter than it takes to make your pregnancy a lifetime.
When it comes to risks, Adeley tells the patient that he “can't fully predict the future.” Egg collection remains a relatively new technique. The only people who were born from IVF today are in their 40s. According to Adeley, there is uncertainty, but that applies to medications and procedures as well.
What about emotional impact?
In addition to the physical safety of egg donations, experts say donors should also consider the emotional impact. Egg donors can have multiple biological children in a world they will not meet. If you are facing fertility challenges and pregnancy complications for a lifetime, you may feel regret or resentful about donating eggs, even if there is no direct relationship between donation and birth issues. yeah. For these reasons, many clinics will perform psychological screening prior to egg donation to ensure that patients understand the potential emotional impact of the procedure. Some also offer a shared cycle. In this cycle, the patient will donate a portion of the egg and freeze some later for their potential use.
It is noteworthy that risk benefit calculations may differ from future egg donors to IVF patients. People undergoing IVF balance the risks with their desire to build a family, but egg donors compare those risks against their desire to help someone else get pregnant You need to consider it. The egg donor gets compensation, but “it's still a gift,” Adeley said.
“It's aimed at people who are altruistic and want to give” – and people who are comfortable using their bodies to do so. “It's not everyone. It's fine,” Adeley said.
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