Initial experience with a donor egg bank

Objective To report on the establishment of a commercial donor egg bank (CryoEggs International, LP) and to present our initial experience from the first four patients to receive eggs. Design Case report. Setting Private fertility clinic. Patient(s) The four recipient women were aged 43, 43, 40, and 33 years. All had cycle day FSH levels greater than 25 mIU/mL. All were given the option of fresh donor egg IVF but opted to use frozen donor oocytes. Intervention(s) Purchased and quarantined frozen donor eggs were thawed and inseminated using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Subsequent embryos were transferred on day 3. Main Outcome Measure(s) Clinical pregnancy as defined by presence of cardiac activity. Result(s) There was a thawed egg survival rate of 76%, a fertilization rate of 74%, a pregnancy rate (PR) of 50%, with an average of 2.75 embryos per transfer and an implantation rate of 27%. Conclusion(s) Although very preliminary, these results indicate that more widespread use of frozen donor eggs obtained from a commercial egg bank may be feasible in the future, changing the landscape of donor egg IVF.