How are egg donation and surrogacy used to treat infertility

Reproductive endocrinologist John Jain, MD, explains how egg donation and surrogacy are used to treat infertility.

Transcript

00:00

And it's the egg donor then that undergoes the hormonal injections and then the egg harvest. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:16

Egg donation is used to treat egg factor infertility fertility. That is when a woman herself has no more viable eggs or she's

00:23

older and her eggs don't work that well, probably due to chromosomal abnormalities.

00:31

An egg donor then replaces her as the egg source. And it's the egg donor, then, that

00:37

undergoes the hormonal injections and then the egg harvest.

00:43

Those eggs are then handed to the intended mother or intended couple where the father provides a sperm

00:51

to create an embryo, which is then transferred to the intended mother, the woman who would then carry the pregnancy for nine months.

00:58

Surrogacy is used when there is a medical indication for surrogacy. I mean, a medical contraindication to pregnancy.

01:09

In other words, if the woman has heart or lung problems or an abnormal uterus were carrying a pregnancy would be dangerous to her or to the baby.

01:15

That's the most common reasons. So it's also being used electively. [MUSIC PLAYING]