Seal of Quality Assurance
The Donor Egg Bank USA Seal of Quality Assurance represents more than simply having obtained competency in frozen oocyte use. This certificate recognizes practices who have consistent and exceptional results.
Our goal is to attain excellence in competency when we train and work with practices who vitrify and warm donor oocytes. Attaining mastery is about more than being able to follow the steps of a protocol. It is the ability to look beyond the steps to the overall environment, integrating other variables and the impact they may have on critical areas of the process.
We rely on several indicators to determine mastery of oocyte vitrification and warming. While we monitor oocyte survival rates, we have learned that survival alone doesn’t predict proficiency. More important than survival is the rate of blastocyst development and, ultimately, the number of clinical pregnancies per oocyte warming event. Donor Egg Bank USA is invested in helping fertility practices achieve healthy pregnancies with our oocytes. In 2019, we were able to achieve an average blastocyst rate of 51% per fertilized egg and a clinical pregnancy rate of 61% per transfer. Our top 10% of clinics achieved a blastocyst rate of 59% per fertilized egg and a clinical rate of 79% per transfer.
We have set the clinical pregnancy rate as the first criteria to determine which clinics will receive a Seal of Quality Assurance. To be considered, clinics must achieve a 50% or higher clinical pregnancy rate over a minimum of five cycles as reported in our database.
Achieving a clinical pregnancy requires a quality blastocyst and implantation in the uterus. There are instances where the embryologists and the lab can have excellent results but still encounter uterine issues outside of their control. To account for this variability, all clinics who achieve our stamp of assurance will be assessed on their overall blastocyst per fertilized egg rate of 50% or higher, independent of their clinical rate, as being recognized.
When recipients are awarded the Donor Egg Bank USA Quality Assurance Certificate, it acknowledges that they have achieved outstanding demonstrable results. Achieving success while working with vitrified and warmed oocytes is a noteworthy accomplishment. Much data has shown that vitrified and warmed donor oocytes are more fragile and difficult to master than their fresh contemporaries. To consistently achieve excellent results with frozen donor oocytes proves that embryologists and clinics receiving this certificate can be counted among the few in the field who have attained mastery.
