Risk Disclosure and the Recruitment of Oocyte Donors: Are Advertisers Telling the Full Story?

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hillary B. Alberta ◽  
Roberta M. Berry ◽  
Aaron D. Levine
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Oocyte Donation ◽  
Risk Disclosure ◽  
Effective Treatment Option ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Oocyte Donors

In vitro fertilization (IVF) using donated oocytes has proven to be an effective treatment option for many prospective parents struggling with infertility, and the usage of donated oocytes in assisted reproduction has increased markedly since the technique was first successfully used in 1984. Data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) in the United States indicate that approximately 12% of all ART cycles in the country now use donated oocytes. The increased use of oocyte donation in the United States has prompted discussion regarding risks associated with the process and how best to ensure the safety of oocyte donors.Physical risks associated with oocyte donation include bleeding, infection, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and a potential, although unconfirmed, increased risk of developing various forms of cancer, such as uterine, colon, breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers.

scholarly journals Prevalence of pathogenic copy number variants among children conceived by donor oocyte

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Monfort ◽  
Carmen Orellana ◽  
Silvestre Oltra ◽  
Mónica Rosello ◽  
Alfonso Caro-Llopis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
In Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Copy Number ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Copy Number Variants ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Significant Excess ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Donor Oocyte ◽  
Increased Risk

AbstractDevelopment of assisted reproductive technologies to address infertility has favored the birth of many children in the last years. The majority of children born with these treatments are healthy, but some concerns remain on the safety of these medical procedures. We have retrospectively analyzed both the fertilization method and the microarray results in all those children born between 2010 and 2019 with multiple congenital anomalies, developmental delay and/or autistic spectrum disorder (n = 486) referred for array study in our center. This analysis showed a significant excess of pathogenic copy number variants among those patients conceived after in vitro fertilization with donor oocyte with respect to those patients conceived by natural fertilization (p = 0.0001). On the other hand, no significant excess of pathogenic copy number variants was observed among patients born by autologous oocyte in vitro fertilization. Further studies are necessary to confirm these results and in order to identify the factors that may contribute to an increased risk of genomic rearrangements, as well as consider the screening for genomic alterations after oocyte donation in prenatal diagnosis.

scholarly journals Is Information Power? Comparing Anonymous and Open Egg Donation

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Speier
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Fertility Treatment ◽  
Egg Donation ◽  
Gamete Donation ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Egg Donor

Both the Czech Republic and the United States are destinations for cross-border reproductive travellers. For North Americans, including Canadians, who opt to travel to the Czech Republic for IVF using an egg donor, they are entering a fertility industry that is anonymous. This makes the Czech Republic different from other European countries that necessitate open gamete donation, as in Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom. For reproductive travellers coming to the United States for fertility treatment, there is a wider menu of choices regarding egg donation given the vastly unregulated nature of the industry. More recently, professionals in the industry are pushing for ‘open’ egg donation. For intended parents traveling to either location seeking in vitro fertilization using an egg donor, they must choose whether or not to pursue open or closed donation. As pre-conception parents, they navigate competing discourses of healthy parenting of donor-conceived offspring. They must be reflexive about their choices, and protective when weighing their options, always keeping their future child's mental, physical and genetic health in mind. Drawing from ethnographic data collected over the course of six years in the United States and the Czech Republic, this paper will explore both programs, paying special attention to the question of how gamete donation and global assisted reproductive technologies intersect with different notions about healthy pre-conception parenting.

Embryo Culture Conditions and the Epigenome

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (03/04) ◽  
pp. 211-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sneha Mani ◽  
Monica Mainigi
Keyword(s):  
Embryo Culture ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Culture Media ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Common Mechanism ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Blastocyst Development ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Modifiable Factors

AbstractAssisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) lead to an increased risk for pregnancy complications, congenital abnormalities, and specific imprinting disorders. Epigenetic dysfunction is thought to be one common mechanism which may be affecting these outcomes. The timing of multiple ART interventions overlaps with developmental time periods that are particularly vulnerable to epigenetic change. In vitro embryo culture is known to impact blastocyst development, in vitro fertilization (IVF) success rates, as well as neonatal outcomes. Embryo culture, in contrast to other procedures involved in ART, is obligatory, and has the highest potential for causing alterations in epigenetic reprograming. In this review, we summarize progress that has been made in exploring the effects of embryo culture, culture media, and oxygen tension on epigenetic regulation in the developing embryo. In humans, it is difficult to isolate the role of embryo culture on epigenetic perturbations. Therefore, additional well-controlled animal studies isolating individual exposures are necessary to minimize the epigenetic effects of modifiable factors utilized during ART. Findings from these studies will likely not only improve IVF success rates but also reduce the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes.

scholarly journals Reproductive technologies, female infertility, and the risk of imprinting-related disorders

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Fauque ◽  
Jacques De Mouzon ◽  
Aviva Devaux ◽  
Sylvie Epelboin ◽  
Marie-José Gervoise-Boyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Intrauterine Insemination ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Female Infertility ◽  
Global Risk ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Genomic Imprints

Abstract Background Epidemiological studies suggest that singletons born from assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have a high risk of adverse perinatal outcomes, specifically for imprinting disorders. Because ART processes take place at times when epigenetic reprogramming/imprinting are occurring, there is concern that ART can affect genomic imprints. However, little is currently known about the risk of imprinting defects according to the type of ART or the type of underlying female infertility. From the French national health database, a cohort of 3,501,495 singletons born over a 5-year period (2013–2017) following fresh embryo or frozen embryo transfers (fresh-ET or FET from in vitro fertilization), intrauterine insemination, or natural conception was followed up to early childhood. Based on clinical features, several syndromes/diseases involving imprinted genes were monitored. The effects of ART conception and the underlying cause of female infertility were assessed. Results Compared with infants conceived naturally, children born after fresh-ET had a higher prevalence of imprinting-related diseases, with an aOR of 1.43 [95% CI 1.13–1.81, p = 0.003]. Namely, we observed an increased risk of neonatal diabetes mellitus (1.96 aOR [95% CI 1.43–2.70], p < 0.001). There was an overall independent increase in risk of imprinting diseases for children with mothers diagnosed with endometriosis (1.38 aOR [95% CI 1.06–1.80], p = 0.02). Young and advanced maternal age, primiparity, obesity, smoking, and history of high blood pressure or diabetes were also associated with high global risk. Conclusions This prospective epidemiological study showed that the risk of clinically diagnosed imprinting-related diseases is increased in children conceived after fresh embryo transfers or from mothers with endometriosis. The increased perturbations in genomic imprinting could be caused by controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and potentially endometriosis through the impairment of endometrial receptivity and placentation, leading to epigenetic feto-placental changes. Further studies are now needed to improve understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms (i.e. genetic or epigenetic causes).

Conflicts of Interest and Effective Oversight of Assisted Reproduction Using Donated Oocytes

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 410-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valarie K. Blake ◽  
Michelle L. McGowan ◽  
Aaron D. Levine
Keyword(s):  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
The United States ◽  
Oocyte Donation ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Fertility Clinic ◽  
Donor Agency ◽  
Oocyte Donors ◽  
The Relationship

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is a multibillion dollar market in the United States (U.S.), generating a continual demand for oocyte donors whose gametes contributed to 12.6% of all ART cycles in 2012. Oocyte donation is a variant of in vitro fertilization (IVF) that is typically used when an intended mother cannot produce healthy oocytes of her own and instead uses oocytes provided by a third party in an attempt to produce one or more children. When oocyte donation was first developed, oocyte donors were selected among family and friend groups but, increasingly, active solicitation of anonymous donors and brokering the relationship between donor and recipient has become part of the services offered by fertility clinics. In addition, recipients may choose to work with an independent donor agency to find a suitable donor before completing the IVF procedure at a fertility clinic.

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