Yes it is. When eggs are taken from a woman's ovary, only a portion
are taken. Generally hormones are used prior to the egg removal to
mature more eggs all at once. Nonetheless, many more eggs are left in
the ovaries. This is why an egg donor could donate eggs, yet not give
up her own fertility. Genesis IVF explains the procedure of egg
donation and retrieval this way, "Medical Protocol: The medical
protocol involved will be dictated by the physician monitoring the
cycle. The egg donor and recipient mother will have their cycles
synchronized together. The egg donor will endure approximately 10-14
days of injections on a daily basis using hormone medications to
stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple follicles. The donor needs
to be available for several doctor's office visits for monitoring of
the growth of the follicles. Ultrasound and blood level monitoring
will be performed. Egg Retrieval: Once the follicles are at the size
and maturity needed, the doctor will instruct you to administer an hcg
injection. This further matures the eggs and prepares them for the
retrieval. The procedure will take place approximately 36 hours after
the hcg injection. The eggs are aspirated under a light sedation or
general anesthesia. Minimal pain or discomfort may be experienced..."
http://www.genesisivf.com/donor.htm
To answer more specifically about pregnancy after such a procedure,
here is Dr. Marjorie Greenfield's response when a woman asks about
possible negative effects of the hormones taken during the donation
procedure on her current pregancy. The questioner is pregnant after
having been an egg donor. "I was an egg donor on September 14, 2001.
I just found out that I have become pregnant and am worried about all
those hormones I took in August and September. Do I need to worry
about the possibility of multiple eggs?" As you can see from the
answer, the concern is more with the residual effects of the hormones
making it more likely to have a multiple pregnancy (i.e. twins,
triplets etc.), not with infertility.
http://www.drspock.com/faq/0,1511,7748,00.html
If your question was directed to "self" egg donation where the
infertile woman undergoes the procedure to retrieve her own eggs, not
using a donor's eggs, the answer would be pretty much the same. The
difference would be that there was a problem with infertility to begin
with so presumably the odds of normal conception would be much lower.
Should you require an explanation of my answer, please request a
clarification.
Regards,
historybuff |
Clarification of Answer by
historybuff-ga
on
13 Aug 2002 13:05 PDT
I want to add here that if the IVF procedure is successful, the
fertilized egg implants in the uterus, and you have a pregnancy.
Changes in the uterus during pregnancy prevent the implantation of
another fertilized egg, even if fertilized naturally. Theoretically,
it would be possible that the IVF egg does not implant successfully
and a naturally fertilized egg arriving at about the same time does.
I suppose you could end up with a natural pregnancy right after the
IVF procedure, if that was more your question.
****I am not a medical professional, just a B.S. in Biology and
research on your topic****
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Clarification of Answer by
historybuff-ga
on
13 Aug 2002 13:50 PDT
For additional explanation on the implantation portion of IVF, how
many blastocysts are typically transferred and so forth, you can go
here:
http://www.ivf.com/blastocyst.html
To quote the site, "In a typical non-blastocyst in vitro fertilization
(IVF) cycle, a woman's eggs are retrieved and fertilized. If all goes
well, the embryos are transferred into the uterus three days later.
Due to the fact that it is difficult to predict on day three which
embryos are more likely to produce a pregnancy, four or more embryos
are frequently transferred in hopes that at least one will result in a
live birth. Until now, this has been a reasonable approach in order to
achieve acceptable pregnancy rates."
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