Egg-share plan 'safe for donors'

Donor eggs are a scarce resource

Women who give up some of their eggs in return for fertility treatment are just as likely to get pregnant as other patients, say researchers.

"Egg-sharing" schemes operate at many IVF clinics, producing a source of eggs for women who have none of their own.

In return, the donor gets IVF treatment at reduced cost or even for free.

The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, found that despite giving some of their eggs away, women were not at extra risk of side-effects.

The practice of egg-sharing or giving remains controversial - with accusations that clinics are exploiting couples who cannot afford expensive private IVF treatment.

But those who offer the schemes say that without egg-sharing, these women would have no chance of having an IVF baby.

Many older infertile women have no eggs of their own, and there is an ongoing shortage of donor eggs, with some clinics actually advertising egg-sharing schemes in local press.

Normal practice is for women to be given fertility drugs to boost the number of eggs produced in a single cycle.

'First pick'

When these are "harvested" by doctors, these are divided between the egg-sharer and recipient. The donor has "first pick" of at least four eggs before the rest are given to other women.

Of the 95 fertility clinics in the UK, 45 are known to operate some form of egg-sharing scheme.

The latest study, at the private Lister Hospital in London, which runs an active egg-sharing scheme, found no differences in the pregnancy rate between ordinary paying patients and egg-sharers.

In the case of the Lister, a woman who donates eggs pays £500 per cycle of IVF, as opposed to more than £3,000 per cycle for the non-sharing customer.

Our view is that for successful egg sharing the sharer should always be given priority and have the first call on her eggs without any undue pressure Mr Hossam Abdalla, Lister Hospital

There was no evidence that women were given higher doses of fertility drugs in order to produce a larger number of eggs.

The egg sharers achieved a pregnancy rate of 42% per cycle - and a live birth rate of 33%, compared with 40% and 30.9% for the non egg-sharers.

Mr Hossam Abdalla, the director of the assisted reproduction clinic at the Lister, said: "Up to now, there has been no research in the UK carried out with large numbers of patients to ensure that the egg-sharing programme is not detrimental to egg sharers or to the outcome of recipients' treatment compared with standard IVF."

He said: "Our view is that for successful egg sharing the sharer should always be given priority and have the first call on her eggs without any undue pressure."

The clinic is currently conducting research into the psychological effects of egg sharing on women who take part.