Egg donation is a process in which one woman donates her eggs to help another woman who is unable to produce her own eggs. Our Egg Donation programme is an option for the following groups of women:
Donors may be a relative or a friend known to the recipient receiving the eggs, or can be an altruistic anonymous donor. Because altruistic egg donor recruitment is difficult, waiting lists for this form of treatment are often prolonged to several years unless the patient is able to find a donor herself.
Egg donation treatment has generally good success rates providing the donor is younger and the recipient's womb is normal.
The challenge of egg donation revolves around synchronising the recipient's menstrual cycle with that of the donor's, which facilitates the most successful outcome. To achieve this, the recipient is placed on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) which allows us to manipulate her cycle as required. If cycles cannot be synchronised, the donor's eggs can be fertilised and any resulting embryos frozen for use in a future cycle.
Donated eggs from volunteers are fertilised with sperm from the recipient's partner. Following fertilisation, the embryos are transferred either into the uterus of the recipient.
There is an increasing demand for egg donation treatment and most centres have a long waiting list. With the present state of technology, unlike sperm, unfertilised eggs are not easily frozen. There are no egg banks, like there are sperm banks, and therefore the supply of eggs is dependent on benevolent women donating their eggs or patients undergoing IVF treatment "sharing" their eggs.
By far the most successful method of ensuring that sufficient egg donors are available, is to encourage recipients joining the programme to help in recruiting their own donors. These donors may be known to the recipient or remain anonymous.
Couples and donors undergoing treatment with egg donation require counselling prior to commencing treatment, particularly in cases where the donor is known to the recipients.
Donors should be under the age of 36, and preferably have completed their own family. We try to ensure that both donors and recipients share similar physical characteristics such as skin colour, eye and hair colour. All our donors are screened according to national guidelines. This includes tests for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, cystic fibrosis, syphilis and chromosomal abnormalities. The donor undergoes a similar stimulation protocol as described in an IVF cycle, with egg collection usually being performed vaginally.
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON BLOOD TESTING DUE TO COVID-19
If you are experiencing symptoms associated with COVID-19, e.g. fever, loss of taste or continuous new cough, please DO NOT attend for a blood test.
Click on the map for information about phlebotomy clinics in Coventry. You can book an appointment online at the locations in red.
Please book an appointment before attending for a blood test. Click on the ‘Book Online’ button above. Booking an appointment helps patients, their carers and family members to plan their hospital visit better, helping to reduce clinic waiting times and enabling patients to be seen much more quickly.
Location: Outpatients Department, on the ground floor. Opening hours: 8am-4.45pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Children under 16 years old will need to book online here.
Please book an appointment before attending for a blood test, click on the ‘Book Online’ button above. Patients from Rugby and the surrounding areas are able to access the Friends Blood Taking Unit at the Hospital of St Cross.
Referrals for blood tests can be from GP's, practice nurses or from hospital consultants. Patients are also able to leave other samples, such as urine, which have been collected at home, at the hospital's Pathology Reception.
Location: Near Brookfield House, just off North Road - map here. Opening hours: The blood taking clinic sessions for adults and children are listed below:
Monday -Friday 7am-4:45pm Appointment only
Wednesday Evening 5pm-7pm Suspended due to COVID
Saturday Morning 7am-10pm Suspended due to COVID
April 2020 NEW - This Clinic is now by appointment. Please book an appointment before attending for a blood test. Click on the ‘Book Online’ button above.
Address: Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry CV1 4FS Location: Access is via the main doors, the Phlebotomy team are in Area A. Opening hours: Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). 8am–4.45pm
Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT)
Specialist Tests - There are a small number of specialist tests where blood needs to be taken on a hospital site as the sample must be transferred to the laboratory rapidly for the test to be undertaken. Click here for a list of these specialist tests and to find out more.