Preliminary experience offering oocyte donation to human immunodeficiency virus-1 serodiscordant couples

Our preliminary experience on the use of donor oocytes in human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) serodiscordant couples who have previously failed conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy is presented. Five HIV-1 serodiscordant couples in which the male is infected and the female is seronegative underwent IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) utilizing donor oocytes with day 3 embryo transfer and cryopreservation. Six oocyte donation cycles in the five couples yielded 16.8 +/- 9.5 (mean +/- SD) (range 11-34) oocytes; 3.8 +/- 0.4 (range 3-4) transferred embryos; and 1.8 +/- 2.2 (range 0-5) cryopreserved embryos per attempt. The fertilization rate from ICSI was 0.60 +/- 0.16 (range 0.40-0.88). Three of five couples conceived; two from one attempt (one singleton pregnancy and one twin pregnancy); and another after a failed fresh cycle using cryopreserved embryos. All female recipients tested remained seronegative 3 and 6 months post-embryo transfer. All babies (n=4) were seronegative at birth and 3 months postpartum.

Oocyte donation may be considered as an alternative for childbearing in HIV serodiscordant couples in whom conventional IVF has failed due to factors inherent to the female partner.