For years, patients who wished to use egg donation to achieve a pregnancy were placed on waiting lists as long as six months to a year before a qualifying match could be made. The anxiety of not being matched for months only added to the patient's stress and concerns about the donor process.

With improved egg cryopreservation, consideration of an Egg Bank to facilitate matches for patients was based on the known concerns our physicians had regarding the waiting process. Our patients not only have to make decisions about using a donor, but having the added stressors or putting the final process on hold because a match might not be available for a considerable amount of time can be devastating.

Now, with our Egg Bank, couples can select a donor online as soon as they have completed their required evaluation. Donors can be chosen at the couples' convenience and they can then choose the timing of their cycle based on their personal timetable. Patients may pick their top choices and have their physicians review their chosen options so that any questions regarding the match can be discussed before the final selection is made.

Allowing more expedited matches has truly been one of the most important aspects of MyEggBank.com. Knowing that the patients do not have to wait or be anxious about time constraints has been a rewarding one.

2009 has been a very good year for the egg bank at Reproductive Biology Associates. Our egg bank continues to meet and exceed our expectations for its success. As of the end of September 2009, we have banked eggs from 109 donors (average age 26.1 years). One hundred and eighty (180) cycles have been done for recipients (average age 41 years). The initial pregnancy rate currently is 71.97%. The ongoing pregnancy rate is 66%. Over half of our recipients (58.28%) also have embryos to freeze. We have had 72 women deliver 107 live born children, with no increased risk of problems when compared to naturally conceived pregnancies. The other pregnancies are ongoing. The results of our egg freezing program will be presented in greater detail by our Laboratory Director, Dr. Peter Nagy, at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) in Atlanta this month. To our knowledge, these are the best pregnancy rates in the world from the use of frozen thawed eggs. These pregnancy rates equal the pregnancy rates in our center using fresh donor eggs, which are among the best in the country. Therefore, we believe that our current egg freezing technique does not damage the egg.

Additionally, the recent downturn in the economy has actually been very positive for the egg bank, for a variety of reasons. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of young women seeking to be egg donors this year. This has allowed us to be even more selective than we have been in the past and has allowed us to bank eggs from a large number of high quality donors. All these young women are between 21 and 30 years of age, college educated, many have or are working on advanced degrees. On average we recover 22 mature eggs per donor (only mature eggs can be frozen) which means that one donor may produce enough eggs for more than one recipient. This allows us to lower the cost for a donor egg cycle of treatment if eggs from the egg bank are used. At the moment we have approximately 1000 eggs banked for our recipients to choose from and we are continually adding to our inventory.

What all this means for women who need to use donor egg to become pregnant is that (1) we have a wide choice of excellent quality donor eggs available for use now, (2) there is no wait as there may be at many centers that offer egg donation services. And on top of that, (3) the cost to use frozen banked eggs is approximately half (sometimes less) of what it costs to do donor egg elsewhere. (4) All this comes without sacrificing the outcome (the pregnancy rates and live birth rates are as good as with fresh eggs).

Personally, I am very excited about our egg freezing technology. I believe that this technology is going to revolutionize the way women think and plan for their reproductive future. At the moment we don’t even recognize all of the potential applications for this technology, but there will be many.

Already we have preliminary data on the outcomes of egg freezing in older women than our egg donors and they are good. Of course egg freezing is not the fountain of youth, but it appears that in our hands eggs are not damaged in the freeze thaw process. That means that the pregnancy rates from these cycles are age appropriate for the age of the egg. By that I mean that if you freeze a 35 year old woman’s eggs and use them even years later, her likelihood of becoming pregnant would be the same as if she was still 35. The same applies if the eggs are frozen at age 37; the pregnancy rates would be as if she were still 37, regardless of when the eggs were used, and so on. So egg freezing seems to stop a woman’s reproductive time clock, at least for the eggs that are frozen. This opens a whole new world of possibilities for women.

We are so confident in the egg freezing technology that we have begun to offer egg freezing for fertility preservation for women 38 years of age or younger, if they have good ovarian reserve. This means that women recently diagnosed with cancer can freeze their unfertilized eggs for later use even if they do not have a partner. Women who haven’t chosen a partner yet, or are not ready to have a child at the present, for whatever reason (career-related or for economic reasons, etc.) and who feel their reproductive clock ticking can stop that clock by freezing eggs for potential later use. Egg freezing can take the pressure off a woman so she is free to make the best choice for her, without worrying about declining pregnancy rates with advancing maternal age. Of course freezing eggs is no guarantee of future success, but I tell women to look on the process of egg freezing, if they choose to do it, as an insurance policy. They may never need it because they may find the perfect partner and conceive on their own at the right time. But if she doesn’t find the right partner or situation until later in life, she still has a good chance of success. When a woman’s family is complete, she can always have her unused eggs discarded.

These are just a few of the possible applications of egg freezing technology, but these uses of egg freezing are available to you now, not some time in the distant future. I hope that women will be proactive, learn about these new technologies, and if they might be helpful to them, then investigate further. The future is now!

I hope you have enjoyed the information provided in our earlier egg bank donor egg blogs. It nicely sets the stage as to what the egg bank at RBA is about. For my first blog on this site (or anywhere on the web for that matter), I'd like to take a different angle and describe the dynamics of how one couple came to choose this form of reproductive treatment. Last year, a patient of mine referred her friend from another city to me. We contacted each other via e-mail several times and they decided to fly to Atlanta for a consultation. They were a lovely couple and it was a tough case. The woman was in her early 40’s and she and her husband had been trying to conceive for many years. In fact, it had been such a long time that neither of them could keep up with all of the details. However, she had undergone major pelvic surgery in the past, but this was unsuccessful. After the nature of the surgery was revealed, the forgotten details weren’t needed. Her tubes were open but irreparably damaged – IVF was the only reasonable hope. So, we started talking about what to do. We talked about FSH levels, protocols, success rates, cancellation rates, and miscarriage rates. We discussed the genetics of reproductive aging. We talked about cost. It was immediately evident that the couple would barely be able to afford IVF. It would be the dreaded "one shot" IVF cycle- always high-stress, for both doctor and patient. Based on the particulars of this individual case, all signs pointed to a poor outcome. But, there was still a chance- what to do?

Let's stop here and place ourselves in this couple’s shoes. They came to RBA to pursue IVF. Should they pursue the dream of having children through the use of IVF if there is less than a 10% chance of a live-born child? What is "plan-B" if they are unsuccessful? In our couple’s case, continuing to live childless or being foster parents are the only choices after the expenses of IVF are taken into account. Now, place yourself in the physician’s shoes. If we step back and look at this case from the perspective of economic efficiency, traditional egg donation makes a lot of sense. The pregnancy rate is exceptional, miscarriages are infrequent and we have little concern for genetic abnormalities. Thankfully, I practice in perhaps the only clinic in the world where I can provide a more affordable method of egg donation without sacrificing quality or outcome. Nonetheless, “clinical efficiency” doesn’t take into account the emotions of a couple sitting in front of me. Should I avoid the difficult, emotionally-laden conversation about abandoning the use of this woman’s own eggs, when there is still a chance of it working? Ultimately, it is the patient’s choice, and I did offer egg bank IVF to this couple. They wanted to be parents and didn’t want to fail. They had never considered egg donation before, but their sense of relief at finding the best chance of becoming parents, that also met their budget, led them to choose our egg bank without reservation.

The next steps included further analysis of this couple’s unique medical history to prepare them for the best chance egg banking can provide. Her screening tests revealed a fibroid (myoma) within the uterine cavity that I removed surgically. The couple underwent the required psychological and routine medical testing. A follow-up ultrasound revealed perfect uterine healing and we were on our way. The thawed eggs fertilized very well with ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) and we transferred two beautiful blastocysts. Unfortunately, one additional embryo did not meet our standards for freezing. But all ended well with a nicely positive pregnancy test (β-hCG) that continued spiraling upwards. In two more weeks, we were able to see a single embryo with a beautifully positive heart rate. Our patient is nearing the end of her pregnancy now.

The egg bank continues to grow and now has enough eggs to meet the demand of 150 new patients. Our ability to screen high quality donors has also provided us with a steady stream of new donors, so that at this point it appears that we will have no significant wait for the vast majority of patients seeking egg donation.

The convenience and lower cost of egg banking have many important consequences. One emerging result of egg banking is ‘reproductive tourism’. The term was coined many years ago in Europe to describe patients who travel for their IVF care. Reproductive tourism in Europe for egg donation services is the norm. Only a few countries on the continent allow anonymous, compensated egg donation. Patients in the UK, Germany and Italy, for example, must travel to the Czech Republic, Spain or Belgium to find anonymous donation programs.

Some Americans have traveled to Europe for IVF care in general, and some have traveled for egg donation in particular.. In each of these cases, patients can expect the cost of travel, including two or more weeks overseas, to significantly erode any cost savings they may experience by going to Europe for medical treatment. American patients traveling within the US usually do so to seek higher pregnancy rate irrespective of cost or inconvenience.

It is also very important to note that for egg donation, reproductive tourists must have their cycles coordinated with their donor’s cycle. It is not uncommon to invest heavily in an arrangement such as this only to reach Prague or Valencia and discover that the donor’s response is inadequate or her egg quality is not good.

By using a frozen egg bank, patients need not worry about egg quality or supply. High quality eggs are already banked, and back-up eggs are usually available in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Patients traveling for egg donation can trust that their travel dollars are well spent.

At RBA we are hopeful that patients will come to realize that by using our egg bank they can achieve pregnancy rates the same as fresh cycles (65%), for a total cost that is far less than egg donation charges for fresh cycles. For patients in California or metropolitan New York, charges at RBA are about half of the typical fees for fresh cycles. For cycles involving egg donor brokers in other states, the savings at RBA are even greater.
Even after figuring in the cost of travel, patients coming to Atlanta for egg donation can expect to save thousands of dollars without compromising outcome at all.
Additionally, recipients have the ability to direct their care by choosing their donor from our website data base and scheduling their own cycle according to their needs, not the donor’s availability.

There are several high quality hotels within walking distance of our practice and we have made arrangements with several of them for discounted stays. Atlanta is, and will continue to be, America’s busiest airline hub, so flights are plentiful as well. Several discount airlines and Delta fly here and travelers can be in Atlanta from anywhere in the continental US within 4 hours. Europeans coming to Atlanta can travel non-stop on Delta, Lufthansa, BA, Air France Alitalia, KLM and Sabena from many cities on the Continent. Asian patients can also reach us non-stop from Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul.

If you think travel to Atlanta for egg donation will meet your needs, please call us at 404- 257-1900 or 1-888-722-4483 for more information. You may also e-mail our new patient coordinator at mary.viskup@rba-online.com.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome to the Reproductive Biology Associates Egg Bank. Although we are not the only practice freezing eggs, we have become the only egg donor program in the world to make egg freezing routine. The future, as they say, is now.

Since we first started vitrifying donor eggs two years ago, we have consistently had pregnancy rates in excess of 60% and equal to our fresh donor egg statistics. After the initial 12 month trial period, we concluded that we had found the holy grail of egg donation; a method to reliably and efficiently freeze eggs for routine use. Since our egg bank officially opened in February 2008, we have been actively recruiting donors and matching them to our recipients. Our inventory now exceeds 500 eggs from more than 30 donors. We thaw an average of six eggs per recipient to get two high quality blastocysts for transfer. We are capable of meeting the needs of about 70 recipients above and beyond our current patients immediately. We continue to bank eggs from high quality donors and anticipate that most recipients will have little or no wait for a match. We screen about eighty young women for our donor program per month and approve about 10% of the applicants. All our donors meet the criteria set forth by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

We are very proud of our donor program and our egg bank. We are unique in how we operate. Our recipients can schedule their IVF procedure at their convenience, knowing that the eggs they will receive will result in at least two high-quality blastocysts for transfer or we will provide another attempt at no additional cost. Furthermore, our recipients can take comfort in knowing that they have come to the egg bank with the world’s highest success rates for frozen eggs. Our overall cost per embryo transfer (about $16,500) is well below the national average for egg donation, making our cost per delivery remarkably low.

With the launch of this website, recipients will be able to select donors themselves and review profiles at their leisure. They will be able to provide us with a first and second choice donor. Most importantly, recipients will be able to do all this knowing that their identities are protected as securely as if they made their choice(s) face to face with their doctor.

Some of you reading this are looking to become donors rather than recipients. If you are under thirty years of age, educated, and think you might qualify for our program, click here to contact us and register for a donor seminar. If you are interested in using frozen donor eggs, please contact our patient registration coordinator, Mary, at 404-459-3515. We look forward to hearing from you!