SPAIN IS A LEADER IN EGG DONATION

Spain is the country with the highest number of egg donations in Europe. 30% of ovodonation cycles
ovodonation cycles
in Europe are performed in Spain. Our country is a leader in assisted reproduction techniques , in addition to having a large network of professionals, it has one of the most advanced assisted reproduction laws in the world.

Egg donation

The European IVF Monitoring Group (EIM) has recently released data on egg donations throughout Europe. Spain has the highest figure with 30%, followed by the Czech Republic with 15% of donations and Russia with 12%.

The sum of these three countries represents almost 60% of all egg donations performed in Europe. This is due to the fact that many countries have restrictive laws on assisted reproduction, and because of ethical and moral problems it is difficult to change the legislation in certain countries.

The figure in Spain is so high for four main reasons:

Assisted reproduction law 14/2006, is quite permissive, there are countries like Italy or Germany where many types of treatments cannot be performed, others like Holland do not allow the use of these techniques for single women or lesbians.
High gestation rate of assisted reproduction in Spain: due to the excellent results, many patients turn to Spanish centers. By increasing demand, more is invested in advertising to become a donor.
Procedure with guarantees, for egg retrieval, no general anesthesia is required, it is a simple procedure and after a few hours of rest the donor can return to her normal life. Moreover, since it is performed by experts, there are few risks.
Improved techniques such as oocyte vitrification, in which we are pioneers, have helped to increase success rates in these treatments.

There is still not much data on women who undergo assisted reproduction treatments outside their country of origin. A best practice guide was published based on surveys of these women, from these data it was concluded that two-thirds of the women being treated in the foreigner came from four main countries: Italy, which leads with 31.8%, Germany 14.4%, the Netherlands 12.1% and finally France with 8.7%.

Oocyte vitrification

A few years ago, the oocyte donation system was very complicated from a logistical point of view, since it was necessary to synchronize The donor and the recipient patient were matched so that the oocytes (eggs) would maintain maximum quality guarantees, with all the problems of reconciling work and personal life that this entailed.

With the emergence and development of
oocyte vitrification
The oocyte donation process has been greatly simplified, now the donor’s eggs are extracted at the appropriate time and vitrified. These oocytes remain frozen without losing quality until the patient who is to receive them is ready to receive them.

Oocyte vitrification has even allowed the creation of oocyte banks, egg donations are stored until a suitable recipient patient is found to receive them, as is the case with sperm banks.

Dr. Valeria Sotelo, MD. Gynecologist and Assisted Reproduction Specialist.

Medical Director of Phi Fertility at Vithas Perpetuo Internacional.