‘Two countries-two labs’: the transnational gamete donation (TGD) programme to support egg donation

Abstract

Purpose To evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency, and safety of a transnational gamete donation (TGD) programme based on the shipping of vitrified donor oocytes. Methods A retro-prospective observational study was conducted in the Assisted Reproductive Technology Center of the University Hospital of Florence, Italy. The study population included 622 consecutive donor oocyte cycles. A mean number of 6 vitrified oocytes per couple were shipped from two Spanish biobanks. In the receiving centre, gametes were warmed and inseminated and the subsequent embryo transfer (ET) was performed. The main outcome measurement was LBR. Secondary outcomes included oocyte survival rate, ICSI damage rate, normal fertilization, cleavage, and implantation rate (IR) in both ‘fresh’ and cryotransfer cycles. Results A total number of 3536 mature oocytes were warmed with 81.4% surviving oocytes. 2PN oocytes were 1941 with an ICSI normal fertilization rate of 70.4% and a cleavage rate of 93.4%; 857 day-3 embryos were transferred in 498 women, 63 blastocysts in 44. Couples with at least one vitrified embryo were 181 (32.3%). IR was 25.1% and 33.1% for day-3 ET and blastocyst stage respectively. Crude pregnancy rate and LBR after the first ET were 35.5% and 27% correspondingly with a conservative cumulative LBR of 34% and an optimal LBR of 51.4%. Conclusion Imported vitrified donor oocytes retain their competence and are capable of resulting in ongoing pregnancies and healthy babies in a proportion comparable to other existing systems as egg donation with vitrification/warming in the same laboratory and transnational fresh oocyte donation.

The age of recipients and the number of received and inseminated oocytes affect the ART outcomes in a transnational oocyte donation program with vitrified oocytes: a single-center, seven-years’ experience

“…Our cumulative miscarriage rate of 24.7% is in line with the studies by Rienzi et al, 2020 [10] and Coccia et al, 2020 [25], where it was 21.5% and 23.8% respectively, and it is higher in comparison with the 11.4% of Gianaroli et al, 2022 [27]. The reason for this difference is not known, since the endometrial preparation was similar among the different Italian experiences.…”

“…On the other hand, by making a comparison with similar Italian experiences with imported cryopreserved oocytes [10,[25][26][27][28] or with imported frozen embryos [5], there is a consistency with our results.…”

The impact of zygote vitrification timing on pregnancy rate in frozen-thawed IVF/ICSI cycles

“…Credibility for this notion comes from the thorough assessment of the confounders in our study groups-pregnant and non-pregnant. It is remarkable that some very well-known influencing factors for pregnancy such as maternal age, AMH concentration, uterine pathology and the number of mature oocytes (Surrey et al, 2005;Chen et al, 2018;Coccia et al, 2020) failed to show a statistically significant influence on pregnancy chance in the multivariate model, despite being significant in the univariate analysis. History of a previous successful embryo transfer increased chances for a positive pregnancy test in our cohort, which is additionally in agreement with previous studies (Bushaqer et al, 2020).…”

Oocyte cryopreservation - current scenario and future perspectives: A narrative review

“…Frozen donor oocytes can be easily transported from one centre to other, thus simplifying the procedure. [ 20 ] In a prospective study, performed to compare the outcome of fresh and vitrified donor oocyte cycles, there was no significant difference in fertilisation rate (80.7% vs. 78.2%) and clinical pregnancy rate (40.8% vs. 33.3%), between the two groups of patients. [ 21 ]…”