Infertility Support Group
In vitro fertilization is one of the most common and utilized ways of treating conception problems. This support group is dedicated to those beginning their journey with IVF and needing support. Join the community and share your experiences, advice, and story with people going through similar challenges starting a family.
Long story short, last year I had my third failed IVF. You probably remember all my venting and please-help-me posts... Yeah, there were a lot of them... Anyway, finally I'm ready for the next step. As you might know I was considering using donor eggs. And I'm still looking into this option. But recently I discovered one more treatment and I couldn't just pass by it. Have you ever heard about mitochondria donation? I honestly haven't. I believe it's something new in reproductive medicine. Well now I'm sooo into this treatment! So basically mitochondrion gives energy to our cells. If there are no active mitochondria in our oocytes, we cannot get pregnant. I think this might be the reason of my failed ivfs! Bc everything went great. Transferred 3 healthy eggs. Dr. said my eggs were great. Chances were so high! I thought maybe because of my age the cycle was unsuccessful (I was 45). Now I feel like I have a great chance to get preg! Basically they will take healthy well-functioning mitochondria from a donor’s oocyte and then combine them with woman cells. The only thing is I couldn't find much info or reviews about the treatment itself. I hope you'll share your thoughts with me! I've already found a clinic abroad which has the donation of mitochondria program. My dh will have a day off on Friday so we're planning to contact them. The reason we're in a hurry is a price for the treatment. Costs are €6 900 and €9 900 up to 1/08/19, then it will be €9 900 and €14 900. I'll definitely talk to the clinic's representative about the treatment and ask more, but it would be nice to listen to your opinion as a disinterested party. What do you know about mitochondria donation? Pls share your thoughts!
I couldn't find much about this treatment, but here is some article clippings which I found. Mitochondrial donation was developed as a way to prevent babies from inheriting life-threatening mitochondrial diseases from their mothers. However, as part of a trial, the procedure was used for the fertility treatment of a woman with poor egg quality. The procedure, known as maternal spindle transfer, involves extracting the nucleus from a mother's egg and transferring it into a donor egg, which has had its nucleus removed. This combined egg is then fertilised with the father's sperm and implanted into the mother. The resulting embryo has chromosomes from the mother and father, but also retains mitochondrial DNA from the donor. Mitochondrial replacement therapy offers a solution for mothers who may not want to pass down their mitochondrial DNA. Instead, a female donor’s mitochondria are used. So even though the popular phrase used to describe the treatment is “three-parent baby,” the resulting embryo only has a tiny bit of DNA from the donor. A child born from mitochondrial replacement therapy(MRT) has 99.9 percent of its DNA from its two parents.
As I understood, MRT is banned in USA. Where else you can have it? @Penelopegrc where's your clinic located?
I would ask how the procedure is performed. Also how much DNA will a baby have... I still didn't quite catch if a baby will have only mom's and dad's DNA or donor's as well... Also, you could ask about the price. There is not much information about costs as well…
I wish you good luck!