Risks and complications of IVF egg donation

Before one decides to become an egg donor there are issues to consider related to the physical, psychological and emotional health. Although most of the medical donations are associated with some hazards – even donating blood could be dangerous if not done in proper conditions – egg donation process and risks abroad are, however, entirely different. Whilst donating a kidney or bone marrow could cause some negative effects like physical trauma, egg donating could involve physiological and emotional trauma as well. Egg donation side effects and risks are additionally reinforced by the fact that donating eggs is not a matter of life and death as in the cases of blood, kidney or marrow donation. It is, however, a matter of new life. From a medical and ethical standpoint this issue is very tricky because one person’s health is risked for another person who is not in danger.

Below you will find egg donation complications, both physical and emotional which are involved when you decide to be a donor.

Physical risks of egg donation

Donor

Providing donor eggs may be associated with several hazardous complications and unwanted egg donation side effects. Let’s start from the beginning which is injecting fertility drugs. Such drugs can cause a lot of different reactions. So what are the side effects of egg donation? The donor might experience headaches, allergic reactions, stomach pressure, weight gain and mood changes. However, there are also other egg donation side effects when taking fertility drugs. One of those risks would be the Ovarian Hyper-Stimulation Syndrome of the ovaries. OHSS has a 5% of occurrence in each cycle. While most of the cases are mild, some may lead to serious illness and cause severe health problems to the donor.

Hyper-stimulation in rare cases may cause the ovaries to become enlarged which could lead to developing blood clots because of the increased susceptibility in that state. In such cases hospitalization is a necessity. In even more rare cases it can also lead to fluid accumulation in the abdomen or lungs, kidney failures or even strokes. There is also a chance for the enlarged hyper-stimulated ovary to rupture but this is an extremely rare case and the chances are minimal. However, when this happens surgery and general anesthesia are needed and with that there are additional risks of course. The donor could lose one or both ovaries. Also if the donor decides not to undergo egg retrieval, the chances of this to occur are higher. There are also unlikely chances for lasting negative effects like: pains, irregular menstruation cycles and impairment of future fertility. There have been suggestions of a link between fertility drugs and ovarian cancer but it has not been proven so far.

Egg donation process and risks

Another egg donation risks include the egg retrieval process. The ultrasound guided egg retrieval to be exact. Risks that could occur if there are complications include infections, bleeding and injuries to the bowel or blood vessels. In some cases, and again it is extremely rare, surgery is needed if it is necessary to repair damaged internal organs or to control the internal bleeding. For the egg to be retrieved anesthesia is needed, all the risks involved will be explained by the anesthesiologist. There are also some minor problems like allergies from antibiotics – still we should be careful, in some rare cases the allergies were severe. Also torsions can occur. The enlarged ovaries can cause strong abdominal pains.
Egg donation is a relatively new procedure and in the future we will know more about potential egg donation complications and long term risks involved.

The recipient

The physical risks on the recipient side are mostly dependent on the donor. While the recipient is not in a direct physical danger he could become a victim of a disease because of the donor. Those are, however, minimal risks almost non-existing. An example of such risk would be a situation where the donor is tested for HIV, the test comes out negative and the donor has the green light. However, the donor can become infected with the HIV virus after the test and while the eggs are transferred to the recipient she becomes infected with the virus. This is however as it has been said already just a possibility with minimal risk. Furthermore, more and more IVF clinics require to make the tests one more time just a couple of days before the retrieval procedure so that makes it almost impossible to occur. Another thing is that sometimes the donors are being paid very handsomely for their eggs. This amount of money could attract dishonest people that want to abuse the donation system and get money while trying to pass the tests in some mischievous ways and again risk the health and well-being of the recipient. The clinics are of course aware that such people exists so the psychological evaluations are being done to seed out such persons from the donation program. In the internet era there are however ways to obtain such tests and learn what should and should not be said in this kind of psychological evaluation.
These issues should not discourage any potential recipient from undergoing egg donation procedure but knowing this makes the patient even more safe. A patient who is aware of that can check with the clinic if a donor has been tested for HIV before the retrieval.

Other than that there is only the embryo transfer that entails no significant risk to the recipient. If the patient never had a baby there could be a small problem with transferring the embryo through the cervix. In such case there is a possibility to stretch the cervical canal but such interventions should be avoided if it is not required. In some rare cases the doctor could delay the transfer and freeze the embryos until the cervix is stretched.
There is also the risk of multiple birth if more than one embryo is transferred. If a multiple birth is absolutely out of the question there is an option of transferring only one embryo. This and everything else involving egg donation process and risks can be talked through with the clinician.

Psychological and emotional risks

Recipient

The question most frequently asked by recipient parents is what and when to tell the child that who was a ‘product’ of egg donation. It is said that it’s best to inform the child at the early age and later adding and adjusting details when the child gets older and is able to comprehend more of the procedure. A child conceived via IVF with donor eggs doesn’t face issues like the adopted children who happen to often have those issues . As a matter of fact children born via egg donation notice that their parents go extra miles just to complete their dreams of having a baby and they are able to appreciate it.

Donor

The emotional issues on the donor side are a little more complicated and of a different nature. Young donors in future life often struggle with issues of which they didn’t even think of when deciding to donate.  Sometimes issues occur years later when donors have children of their own. Stories can be found on the internet and in the papers about women who started to worry about the children that were born from their donated eggs after they gave birth themselves. Donors happen to worry not only about the fact they will not ever meet the children of their biological lineage but also sometimes they regret that their own children won’t get to know their “half-siblings”. On the other hand they sometimes are afraid of the possibility of her own child to meet his relative from the egg donation not knowing they share the same genes. They could become intimate with each other. It doesn’t really look like a thing likely to happen but such cases have occurred in the past. Egg donors can also find themselves thinking about the time when the offspring achieved by their eggs gets to know the truth about how they were born and if, how will they react? Will they think of “her”? Would they want to seek “her”? Those can be very troubling questions that most probably will forever stay unanswered.

Egg donation complications – legal matters

Remember that legal regulations may vary in different countries. If you want to know about the legal regulations in a specific country check out our articles that are directly dealing with legal regulations.