# Egg Share initial screening tests help



## 1981lins (Nov 29, 2011)

Hi everyone I am planning on egg sharing in the new year and I have not been able to find any information as to what the initial screening tests consist of. Can anyone tell me what exactly they test for and what health questions they are likely to ask at the initial consultation? I was diagnosed with PCOS a few years ago and although the LWC have said that they will consider me I was wondering if having it would decrease my chances of being accepted and if that is the case then what exactly the effect is of having PCOS on fertility treatment.

Any help would be gratefully received.


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## Vega (Jun 12, 2011)

Hi!

I did an egg share cycle as a donor in Aug/Sep this year. The screening test I had were as follows:

*Egg reserve tests*

At most clinics you require at least 8 eggs to do an egg share cycle. This is because the eggs will be split between you and recipient, and you are likely to need at least 4 to get one good embie to transfer. The clinic will do 3 tests to give an indication of reserves. This also guides them as to the level of stimming drugs you are likely to require. As a lady with PCOS your egg reserves are likely to be very good, so you should be ok to share. However PCOS leaves you at risk of OHSS as you can easily overstimulate with having so many follicles. This would not stop you sharing, but you will probably need to be on a low level of stimulation drug and need careful monitoring as OHSS can make you very poorly (with OHSS you retain fluid which causes you to swell and suffer from sever sickness).

Antral follice count ultrasound: A trans vaginal ultrasound is performed to determine the number of resting/antral follicles visible. These are small follicles which can be seen and counted. They are the ones likely to produce an egg on your next natural cycle. The number of antral follicles visible on ultrasound is indicative of the relative number of microscopic (and sound asleep) primordial follicles remaining in the ovary. Each primordial follicle contains an immature egg that can potentially develop in the future. The AFC gives an indication of how many eggs you could produce on an IVF cycle, though this will normally be less than the number of AF. I had a AFC of 23 and produced 14 eggs on 3 vials of menopur (the clinic generally don't want you to produce more eggs than this as you can then become at risk of OHSS). As a lady with PCOS your AFC is likely to be very high so you should have no problems with the count being high enough. I think a count of around 11 + is usually required to share as not every follicle would contain an egg.

AMH: This hormone is produced by the pre-antral and antral follicles in your ovaries and gives an indication of reserves. The higher the level the more follicles. Any number over 10pmol/l is likely to be high enough to share. I had a level of 16 pmol/l. Again as a lady with PCOS your AMH level could be very high (40 +) showing you may be at risk of OHSS.

Day 3 FSH: This is produced by the body to stimulate follciles to grow before ovulation and test needs to be done on Day 3 of cycle (can be done at GP). A high level is bad as the body needs to produce a lot to get an egg to mature so you are likely to have low reserves. Anything over around 10 maybe to high to share. My level was 2.0 on one test and 7.0 on another.

*Medical blood tests*

Cystic fibrosis - to see if you are a carrier of CF. If you are a carrier you can not share
Karyotype - this looks at your chromosomes to see if you have a normal chromosome pattern. This needs to be normal for you to share
HIV/Chlamydia/Syphilis - need to be negative to share
CVS - doesn't matter whether this is +ve or -ve to share it is just required as some recipients prefer to be matched with a donor who tests the same as them
Blood type - Again doesn't matter but some recipients like to be matched with same blood types (Rh+/Rh- mis matches can cause issues)

I then had to give a medical family history of me, parents, grandparents, siblings to make sure there was no history of serious potentially inherited diseases. Don't worry too much about this though - it means serious and not common things.

They asked whether you had suffered from a long list of medical conditions but I can't remember exactly what was on the list. They then asked your parents, grandparents and siblings ages (or age when deceased) and any serious medical conditions suffered. My grandfather had a heart bypass in his 70s and grandmother has arthirits, and things like this are no problem.

The tests take about 4 weeks in total to come back - mainly due to the Karyotype and CF tests which need to be sent off for analysis.

Hope this has helped!

xxx


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## 1981lins (Nov 29, 2011)

Hi there you have given me much more information than I ever expected to get. Thank you, you have put my mind at rest now and I can just look forward to getting started.


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## Vega (Jun 12, 2011)

No problem good luck with your cycle!


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## Mr &amp; Mrs Bubble (Oct 19, 2011)

Great info Vega - Thanks


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