New life IN EXPERTS’ HANDS
THE QUIRÓN HOSPITAL GROUP IS ONE OF THE LEADERS IN ASSISTED REPRODUCTION WITH OVER 20 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE IN PROVIDING A TOP-LEVEL AND STATE- OF-THE-ART SERVICE
Our motto, “In Experts’ Hands”, sums up the history of the Quirón Hospital Group, more than 50 years of continuous renewal and development to attend to the needs of our patients, offering the most highly qualified doctors, the latest technology, and welcoming, personalised and discrete care.
Quirón Hospital Group has successfully employed the most advanced techniques in assisted reproduction for more than 20 years through pioneer teams in this specialty. Our patients benefit from a top-level professional team, comprehensive treatment units in a hospital setting, state-of-the-art technology, and the best facilities to accompany them in their most important project: a new life.
United under the umbrella assisted reproduction Quirón, we have specialised units in A Coruña, Barcelona, Madrid, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, San Sebastián, Torrevieja, Valencia and Zaragoza, as well as four specialised assisted reproduction centers in Pamplona, Torrent, Murcia and Bilbao, which offer comprehensive care and operate under quality standards and strict protocols of the most prestigious hospital name in our country: Quirón Hospital Group.
Patient care is the primary concern of our centres and is what drives us to improve day by day. Our mission is the wellbeing of our patients and all our efforts are directed toward this goal. The most advanced technology, the vocation of our medical professionals, embryologists,
“Patient care is the primary concern of our centres and is what drives us to improve day by day” DR RAMÓN AURELL BALLESTEROS IS THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF THE ASSISTED REPRODUCTION UNIT OF THE QUIRÓN HOSPITAL BARCELONA
biologists, geneticists, psychologists, auxiliary and nursing staff and the facilities designed by and for the patient are, in short, what makes it possible for our patients to benefit from excellent quality care in the most comfortable of surroundings.
We know how important parenthood is in the life of many people and how traumatic fertility problems can be, which is why, as well as evaluating and treating the physiological aspects of sterility, here in Quirón we also pay special attention to the emotional implications of the problem and look after the overall wellbeing of our patients.
Most of the Quirón hospitals have an assisted reproduction unit, all of which are made up of multidisciplinary teams of specialists in gynaecology, biology, embryology, endocrinology, genetics, urology, psychology, imaging diagnostics, etc. One of the greatest assets of the Quirón assisted reproduction units is the interaction between our units and other specialists. The work of the whole team is coordinated in each centre to offer the very best service in each area.
One of the main synergistic effects of locating all the assisted reproduction units within the hospital is the interaction with other departments, such as the oncology department. Cancer patients, including female patients of childbearing age who are about to undergo radiation therapy or chemotherapy, have the possibility of freezing their gametes (spermatozoids or eggs), or cryopreserving their oocytes using the novel vitrification process, offering them the chance of motherhood in the future.
To improve the care we can offer, Quirón assisted reproduction units make a real effort to implement criteria for continuous improvement in the techniques employed and this places us as forerunners in the field of assisted reproduction.
Go to: quiron. es/ barcelona/ reproduction
What is the most satisfying part of your job?
Every day, I see over 10 couples with the “dream” of becoming parents. Between these couples we can have heterosexual couples, single women, lesbian couples and gay couples. The majority of those couples had been trying to conceive for a long time; pregnancies failed miscarriages… It is very rewarding to be able to help 0n the road to parenthood, challenging but fascinating. Unfortunately, not always achieving the end point, but very happy to be able to help.
How do the Spanish laws regarding assisted reproduction differ to laws in other parts of Europe, particularly the United Kingdom?
Spanish legislation regarding egg and sperm donation is one of the most advanced and well controlled within the EU. Regarding sperm donation, our sperm banks are anonymous, so the donor and recipient cannot meet, but we are allowed to give information regarding physical characteristics of the sperm donor: eye colour, hair colour, blood group, height, weight, age, and they must have all infectious screening tests and genetic tests approved. On the egg donation cases, we do select and have our donors; young girls, between 18-35 years, anonymous, and by law, we must screen them for infectious diseases, such us HIV, Hep B, C, genetic screening and once the medical team has approved them, and they must pass a psychological and counselling test also by our medical team. The matching between donors and recipients is also carried out by us, so sometimes we will ask the recipient to send us a picture to do it as accurately as possible. Nowadays egg donation is carefully controlled by the law. Spanish legislation establishes that egg donation is a voluntary, formal and anonymous contract (recipient and donor may not meet, either now or in the future) between the donor and the medical centre. Whilst it is a voluntary act (the marketing of gametes and embryos is banned by law in Spain) donors can receive an economic compensation for their willingness and time devoted to donation.
What can you offer a lesbian couple seeking to have a child?
Lesbian couples today have two different options. They could decide who is going to get pregnant, and be prepared to select a sperm donor from the bank, to have a mild ovarian stimulation, and then proceed to the insemination process as such. It is an easy procedure, but needs 10-12 days of injections, before the egg is released from the ovaries and the insemination takes place. The second option, if it is a married lesbian couple, they could be offered the “ROPA “method; one of the women is stimulated, we go on an IVF procedure, stimulation, egg collection and inseminate the eggs with the sperm from the bank, and transfer the resulting embryos to her couple: so, both can actively intervene in the maternal process.
How do you select egg donors?
Donation is a voluntary, altruistic and anonymous act and involves women aged 18 to 35. To be a potential egg donor you would need to undergo investigations to confirm full physical and psychological health. This involves giving a complete medical history, having a physical examination and gynaecological checkup (smear test, vaginal cultures and gynaecological scan), blood tests (to rule out transmissible infectious diseases), a genetic study (to rule out genetic diseases transmission) and a psychological interview. All this, besides offering the donor extensive information about her health and her own fertility, will be very useful for her if she later wants to plan her own future pregnancy. Once the egg donor fulfils the screening criteria, then the matching procedure takes place.
How do you select sperm donors?
As per an egg donor. The age could go as far as 40 years as a sperm donor if proven fertility and the compensation is much less then for the egg donor.
How long will the treatment take?
Once we have the matching procedure over, for an Insemination with sperm bank, the treatment lasts around 10-15 days. For an egg donation cycle, it could take 2-3 months.