Box 1. What egg donation involves
From the following article:
Health effects of egg donation may take decades to emerge
Helen Pearson
Nature 442, 607-608(10 August 2006)
doi:10.1038/442607a
- In one typical protocol, women take a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist daily for 1–2 weeks, which stops the pituitary from stimulating ovulation.
- They then inject gonadotropins such as follicle stimulating hormone to trigger the development of several egg-containing follicles.
- A third hormone triggers final maturation of the eggs.
- Eggs are collected with a needle inserted through the wall of the vagina into the ovary.
