Dr. Allison Rodgers is board certified in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, and has been practicing medicine since 2004. She currently practices at the Fertility Centers of Illinois. Dr. Rodgers’ personal experiences with both secondary infertility and pregnancy loss have given her a unique insight into reproductive medicine in order to help you BEAT INFERTILITY.
After Dr. Rodgers answers two listener questions, she and Heather explore everything you need to know about donor eggs, sperm, and embryos:
Egg Donor
- We’ve talked about this before in other episodes, but in what situations do you typically recommend using an egg donor?
- The first step in the egg donor process is donor application and screening. Can you tell us a little bit about how that works?
- The next step is matching. How is that typically done?
- Are egg donor cycles typically done as fresh or frozen IVF transfers? If fresh, how does it work to line up both women’s cycles?
- How does the cost of a donor egg cycle compare to a traditional IVF cycle?
- What are the success rates of donor egg cycles?
Sperm Donor
- We’ve talked about this before in other episodes, but in what situations do you typically recommend using a sperm donor?
- How are sperm donors screened? Is it similar to egg donors?
- What about selecting a sperm donor? How is this done, and is it similar to selecting an egg donor?
- Unlike donor egg cycles, donor sperm can be used during IUI or IVF. Focusing on IUI for the moment, does the sperm donor sample have to be fresh, or is it most often frozen and thawed? How does this process work?
- Moving on to using donor sperm in an IVF cycle, how does the process work?
- Compared to traditional IUI or IVF cycles, what extra costs are involved when using donor sperm?
- What are the success rates of donor sperm cycles for IUI and IVF?
Embryo Donor
- In what situations do you typically recommend an embryo donor?
- Is the process for selecting and using a donor embryo pretty similar to that of a donor egg?
- How does the cost of a donor embryo cycle compare to a traditional IVF cycle?
- What are the success rates of donor embryo cycles?
