Altruistic Donation of Surplus Embryos to Known and Unknown Recipients, The Dutch Approach.

backgroundPrevious studies have shown that embryo donation can be a successful treatment for infertile couples,<br />however the willingness of Dutch couples to donate or accept embryos was unknown. The aim of this article is to<br />describe the protocol and results for altruistic embryo donation of the only embryo bank in the Netherlands.<br />Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive study. Since 2011, donated cryo-embryos from couples that have undergone<br />in vitro-fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) treatments, are being stored in our embryo<br />bank. The majority of the donated embryos were frozen on day 3 or 4 by slow freezing techniques. We perform a<br />thorough medical and psychological screening of donor couples and recipients, according to the protocol drawn up in<br />close collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Health.<br />Results: Up to June 2021, 54 women have received embryos from our embryo bank, all single embryo transfers.<br />While the clinical pregnancy rate in 'unknown' embryo donations was relatively high (25.3%), the live birth rate<br />shows limited success (12.6%), partly due to high pregnancy loss through miscarriage. In known donation procedures,<br />the recipients tend to undergo more procedures, depending on the number of donated cryo-embryos. Twentyeight<br />women received embryos from known donors, with a clinical pregnancy rate per embryo transfer of 24%, and<br />live birth rate of 14%. In total, 82 recipients were granted donated cryo-embryos, twenty had an ongoing pregnancy<br />(24.4%), nineteen of whom have given birth to a healthy child (23%).<br />Conclusion: Altruistic embryo donation of embryos appears to be satisfying for the donors, as they are not obliged to destroy<br />their embryos, but instead help others build a family. Although success rates are still limited, partly due to the relatively high<br />miscarriage rates and inferior freezing techniques, to this date nineteen out of 82 recipients have given birth to a healthy child.