The best donor

Oocyte donation has become a common treatment modality for a large spectrum of infertility conditions. The purpose of this study was to assess the success rate of a shared egg donation programme, and to define the profile of a successful 'donor-recipient' couple in view of the limitations imposed by the shared programme. The results of all consecutive cycles of egg donation from 1st January 1995 to 31st December 1996 were analysed. A total of 383 donor cycles were matched with 946 recipient cycles; clinical pregnancy rates were 23. 5 and 16.7% respectively. With the exception of endometriosis, which significantly reduced the pregnancy rate in both groups, similar pregnancy rates were obtained in both groups for all the other infertility aetiologies of the donors. The donor's age had no impact on pregnancy rate of the recipient, but pregnancy rate was significantly decreased in donors >35 years. Recipients >50 years had significantly reduced pregnancy rates and those >45 years a significantly increased abortion rate. Recipients with severe male factor infertility, who had intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment, showed pregnancy rates equivalent to those recipients who had regular in-vitro fertilization. We conclude that in a shared egg donation programme, the recipients' pregnancy rate and outcome are dependent only on the donors' infertility aetiologies and on recipients' ages.