title: Egg banking in the United States: current status of commercially available cryopreserved oocytes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the current availability of donor cryopreserved oocytes and to describe the emerging phenomenon of commercial egg banks (CEBs) in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey of CEBs.
  
  
  METHODS
  E-mail, telephone, and fax survey of all CEB scientific directors, conducted April 2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  None.
  
  
  METHODS
  None.
  
  
  METHODS
  Number and location of CEBs in the United States, years in existence, number of donors, number of available oocytes, level of donor anonymity, donor screening, cost of oocytes to recipients, freezing/thawing technique, pregnancy statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven CEBs were identified and surveyed (response rate: 100%). The CEBs used three distinct operational models, had been in existence for a median of 2 years (range: 1 to 8 years), with a median 21.5 (range: 6 to 100) donors and 120 (range: 20 to 1,000) currently available oocytes. The median recommended minimum number of eggs to obtain was six (range: four to seven), at an estimated mean cost per oocyte of $2,225 (range: $1,500 to $2,500). An estimated 3,130 oocytes from 294 donors are currently stored for future use. Of these CEBs, 6 (86%) of 7 use vitrification as cryopreservation method. To date, 8,780 frozen donor oocytes from CEBs have been used for in vitro fertilization, resulting in 602 pregnancies. Pregnancy rates per oocyte, available for 5 (71%) of 7 CEBs, were 532 (7.5%) of 7,080 for CEBs using vitrification and 70 (10%) of 700 for the single CEB using slow freezing as cryopreservation method.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Frozen donor eggs are currently widely available in the United States. Three different operational models are currently used, resulting in more than 600 pregnancies from oocytes obtained at CEBs. The majority of CEBs use vitrification as cryopreservation technique.
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Endocrinology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. alexander.quaas@med.usc.edu
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Quaas
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Melamed
authors.forename: Karine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Kristin A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Bendikson
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Paulson
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015925:Cryopreservation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018587:Oocyte Donation / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009865:Oocytes; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D018456:Reproductive Medicine / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014015:Tissue Banks / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology