Ova bank

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An ova bank, or cryobank, or egg cell bank is a facility that collects and stores human ova, mainly from ova donors, primarily for the purpose of achieving pregnancies of either the donor, at a later time (i.e. to overcome issues of infertility), or through third party reproduction, notably by artificial insemination. Ova donated in this way are known as donor ova.

Contents

General

There are currently very few ova banks in existence. [1] [2] [3]

Generally, the main purpose of storing ova, at present, is to overcome infertility which may arise at a later age, or due to a disease. The ova are generally collected between 31 and 35 years of age. [4]

The procedure of collecting ova may or may not [5] include ovarian hyperstimulation. [6]

It can be expected however that ova collection will become more important in the future, i.e. for third party reproduction, and/or for producing stem cells, i.e. from unfertilized eggs (oocytes). [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Fertility tourism is the practice of traveling to another country or jurisdiction for fertility treatment, and may be regarded as a form of medical tourism. A person who can become pregnant is considered to have fertility issues if they are unable to have a clinical pregnancy after 12 months of unprotected intercourse. Infertility, or the inability to get pregnant, affects about 8-12% of couples looking to conceive or 186 million people globally. In some places, rates of infertility surpass the global average and can go up to 30% depending on the country. Areas with lack of resources, such as assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), tend to correlate with the highest rates of infertility.

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Sperm donation is the provision by a man of his sperm with the intention that it be used in the artificial insemination or other "fertility treatment" of one or more women who are not his sexual partners in order that they may become pregnant by him. Where pregnancies go to full term, the sperm donor will be the biological father of every baby born from his donations. The man is known as a sperm donor and the sperm he provides is known as "donor sperm" because the intention is that the man will give up all legal rights to any child produced from his sperm, and will not be the legal father. Sperm donation may also be known as "semen donation".

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LGBT reproduction refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people having biological children by means of assisted reproductive technology. It is distinct from LGBT parenting, which is a broader cultural phenomenon including LGBT adoption. In recent decades, developmental biologists have been researching and developing techniques to facilitate same-sex reproduction.

References

  1. Centre for Reproductive Medicine of UZ Brussel having an ova bank
  2. The Bandra-based Lilavati Hospital having an ova bank
  3. Renji Hospital, Shanghai having an ova bank
  4. Age of woman when collecting ova
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-08-13. Retrieved 2012-10-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Procedure of collecting ova
  7. Stem cell production from oocytes