The World's First Frozen Egg Bank

Infertility Company Launches New Donor Egg Registry

Mar 17, 2009 Joanna Karpasea-Jones

An exciting $1.5 million grant to the World Egg Bank has enabled it to fund its frozen egg registry, which is now the largest store of human eggs in the world.

The original company, X and Y Consulting, was founded in 1997 to help infertile women find egg donors, rather like a dating agency, except instead of finding a partner, the woman could find a donor that matched her in physical complexion to ensure the baby would look similar to her.

The company was set up by Diana Thomas, who had endured 15 years of infertility treatments in order to attain her dream of a family. She successfully gave birth to a baby boy in 1995, followed by twin boys in 2000. All three sons were conceived using donor eggs.

This year, X and Y Consulting decided in an innovative business move to merge with the company Cryo Eggs International to become the World Egg Bank.

This will give infertile women a far greater choice when searching for a donor as they will not have to synchronize their menstrual cycle with that of the donor.

What are the Advantages of Using Frozen Donor Eggs?

• You can search for an egg donor online
• You don't have to worry about the egg donor changing her mind, as the eggs have already been removed
• You don't have to wait until your menstrual cycles match up. If her eggs aren't ready or you miss a period, you won't have to wait until the following month to retrieve the eggs
• You don't have to worry about your IVF schedule being held up by any adverse reactions the egg donor may have to the stimulation therapy
• The eggs themselves can be re-tested for STDs, even after the donor has been screened for these diseases. This gives you added peace of mind
• Once you find a suitable egg donor, you don't have to wait for weeks to retrieve the eggs. Frozen eggs can be purchased and shipped the same day and ready for your embryologist the next day.

What are the Disadvantages of Using Frozen Eggs?

• In previous trials, frozen eggs have been shown to be less successful at achieving a viable pregnancy, although the World Egg Bank say their success rates are similar to the rates achieved when using fresh eggs
• Approximately 40% or more of frozen eggs will die when they are thawed, or not develop into decent embryos. Therefore, you would probably need at least 10 or more eggs to try with.
• Egg freezing is a very new science. It has been around since 1986, but nearly all of the eggs perished and only 1% actually resulted in a live baby. It has only been recently that this treatment can be compared to other forms of IVF, in terms of its success.
• Since egg freezing is so new, no one knows what the affect on the baby will be. There is very limited data on birth defects and the long term outcome for these children.

If you are interested in finding an egg donor please go to the World Egg Bank.

The copyright of the article The World's First Frozen Egg Bank in Infertility is owned by Joanna Karpasea-Jones. Permission to republish The World's First Frozen Egg Bank in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Eggs