OVARIAN STIMULATION OF THE DONOR AND EGG RETRIEVAL: Donors are given a hormonal treatment to artificially induce the production of multiple ovarian follicles during one menstrual cycle. By doing this, instead of producing one egg which is what happens in a normal menstrual cycle, several eggs may be produced. The treatment usually takes around 14 days until the follicular cells containing the oocytes are removed from the donor through a surgical procedure called transvaginal ultrasound aspiration or follicular puncture. The number of oocytes obtained per cycle varies greatly for each woman. FERTILISATION AND EMBRYO TRANSFER: After obtaining the donor eggs (oocytes) and assessing their quality and maturity, they are fertilised by the sperm. An Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is the most accurate insemination technique used in IVF to form embryos – a single sperm cell of good quality is injected directly into the cytoplasm of an egg. After the embryos have developed, an embryo transfer is scheduled.