An introduction to IVF treatment in Spain, with an expert gynaecologist
Considering IVF treatment in Spain? Here’s what to know
If you’re on the look out for an in-depth exploration of the world-class IVF treatment in Spain – you’re in the right place.
We’re unravelling the next-gen treatment intricacies, compassionate care, and unique advantages that make Spain a beacon of excellence for couples (and individuals) seeking fertility care.
Watch as we chat through all things IVF treatment in Spain, plus:
- Why go for treatment abroad
- The need-to-knows about permissive Spanish regulations
- Egg donation possibilities and IVF with donor eggs
- Success rates at IFV Life
- When PGT-A testing is done/recommended
- and much more
Taking us through it all was Dr Zulyma Blanco, Fertility Specialist and Gynaecologist from IVF Life in Spain, for the 101 – from affordable prices to high-tech labs, success rates and reduced travel times.
Considering IVF with donor eggs? IVF Life are also specialists in egg donation, and Dr Blanco shares her insights into the types of donors and regulations Spain has – whilst highlighting how their team can support you on your family building journey.
If you’d like to speak directly to the experts at IVF Life, book a free personalised consultation to learn more about how they can help you.
Transcript
Eloise Edington
Hello, welcome back to those who may have joined. I am being joined today by Dr. Blanco, who is a gynaecologist and fertility specialist at IVF Life in Spain. We will be talking all about treatment abroad and the lax regulations… everything that you need to know and want to know!
We’re just trying to get over some technical issues… Oh, we have luck. Hello, welcome!
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Hello!
Eloise Edington
We have connected. Thank you very much for your patience!
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Thank you, too! Hi Eloise, how are you? Nice to meet you.
Eloise Edington
Lovely to meet you too. How are you?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Sorry for the delay, but we had problems with the connection!
Eloise Edington
We are here now! I know, thank you for that. So, I have just given a little introduction to yourself and IVF Life, and also to the topic that we will be discussing today.
But if you could please introduce yourself, your specialty, and of course IVF Life, then we will start talking about the benefits of treatment in Spain.
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Great. So first of all, thank you for your invitation. I’m Dr. Blanco, a gynecologist here in Spain. I work with this group, IVF Life. We are part of this big group of clinics here in Spain.
We have three clinics—one where I work here in the north of Spain, in San Sebastián, we have another one in Madrid, and the main one that is in Alicante.
We specialize in international patients and of course, fertility treatments.
Eloise Edington
Fantastic, thank you. So the benefits of traveling to Spain for treatment are vast. We know that lots of our followers and readers ask us all the time about where to go and what it’s like and the benefits of doing that.
So why is Spain such a popular destination for IVF and egg donation?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
So first, I’m going to say that our oocyte donation program is the assisted reproductive technique that has grown the most in the last years.
According to our national data, we passed from 336 cases reported in 2001 to almost 24,000 cases in 2018.
That’s true that after COVID that has decreased a little bit, but in general, the data from 2018 showed that we—in Spain—did almost 18,000 oocyte donation fresh embryo transfers and almost 8,000 vitrified embryos from oocyte donation.
So really, it’s the treatment that has grown the most, and today, one out of three children in Spain are born after a donation program.
Eloise Edington
Fantastic.
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
And that’s due to the change in the culture of the society. As you know, the quality and number of oocytes start to decrease once the woman reaches the age of 35. And we, as families, are searching for children after 40. So that’s one of the reasons for the increase in this treatment.
Here in Spain, we have a big culture of donating, and also our legislation. The legislation for the donation program was written in 2006, and we have the opportunity to work with safety and good quality. So the first reason is the legislation.
The second reason, I think, is the quality-price ratio of the treatment that is still good enough for the patients to achieve the treatment here in Spain.
The third reason would be the quality of assistance. Spain has all the tools in the lab. We can do the PGT; we have the donation program. We have all the filters to do good sperm selection in the lab. We have it all—we have everything that is possible, and it is demonstrated by the studies. We may do it without a problem.
And finally, I think the high number of clinics all around the country allows the patient to have good options to come here to Spain. Of course, the patients take the opportunity to visit around a little bit, to get to know the different cities.
So I think that’s why Spain is such an important destination. And really, in Europe, we have the freedom of movement between countries, so it’s really easy to come here for that.
Eloise Edington
Absolutely. And so would you say that you see some complex cases, where people may have tried with their own eggs in their own country, and then they come to Spain specifically for egg donation?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Yes. Actually, our clinic is specialized in complex cases. That is one of our values.
That’s why usually the patient does the first part of the treatment with their own oocytes in her country, and they have to move to another country to search for a different option.
So we have cases of many implantation failures or patients with a lot of repeated abortions.
Eloise Edington
Okay. And what kind of egg donation can people do in Spain?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
In Spain, we have only the opportunity to do this closed-ID egg donation. So the program is anonymous—that’s a big difference with other countries. It’s anonymous for families and children.
I know that in the UK, the children can know the identity of the donor, but here, our law says that the contract is free, confidential, and formal between the donor and the clinic. The donation must be anonymous, and the confidentiality of the donor may not be revealed.
But if there is any case—this rare case—where the child’s health is in risk, in that case, yes, we have to give the patient information of the donor. But that’s not a usual case.
But even if it’s anonymous, the cycle has trustability—because since a couple of years ago, we have this National Donation Register that is linked and subject to the Health Minister.
So we have the information of the donor, and also the Health Minister has the information on the result of the cycle. But for the patients, it’s closed. It’s the medical team that is going to do the assignment of the donor.
Eloise Edington
Would you say that there are more donors available in Spain than there are in the UK, for example? There’s more choice of donors in Spain than there are in the UK?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Yes, because of that—because it’s closed. So the donor prefers a little bit—has this culture of donating—because she knows that it’s completely closed.
Eloise Edington
Yeah, absolutely. What about the regulations? How do they compare in Spain to the UK?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
The difference will be first, the most important, that this is the type of program—closed and open. And the other thing is that—depending on the clinic—we don’t offer oocytes; the guarantee here is the embryos on the blastocyst stage.
So that’s also a difference in the quality of the result of the cycle.
Here at our clinic, we offer one regular program—minimum three transfers of embryos on the blastocyst stage.
Eloise Edington
Yeah, okay.
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
So I think that’s a big difference because usually the patient—I know that in the UK—they can buy a number of oocytes, but the result, maybe with six oocytes or ten oocytes, there is only one blastocyst.
So what we try to do is really guarantee a minimum of three transfers if no pregnancy.
Eloise Edington
Okay.
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
So all the embryos are in the blastocyst stage—no embryos on day three. We perform only one embryo transfer per cycle.
And even if the sperm has any problem, we try to guarantee the blastocyst stage.
Eloise Edington
Okay, that’s really good for people to know. If anyone has any questions for Dr. Blanco as we’re talking, please do ask.
What should people know about the process for IVF or IVF with egg donation when coming from another country? How much can you do at home, and how much needs to be done in Spain?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Almost everything can be done at home. Our patients may do all the general tests with their doctors. And if the couple has a man, he has to come once to freeze the sperm because we work with frozen sperm.
Eloise Edington
Okay.
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
So he has to go on the first visit to freeze the sperm. And he can take advantage of that trip—if that’s an option—to undergo the optional genetic study.
I don’t know if you know, but here we have the option of doing the genetic match. We do the phenotypical match—that is by law necessary to do with the woman—but it’s also possible to do this genetic match with the man.
We study the most important recessive mutations. So in the case the man has one mutation, we have to guarantee that the donor doesn’t have the mutation, in order to eliminate, if possible, the risk of the child having a recessive disease.
Eloise Edington
Okay.
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
So that will be one trip for the man to freeze the sperm, and if he wants, he can do the genetic test during that trip. The second one will be only for the transfer.
The transfer, you know, is like doing a pap test—so really, one trip for the man, and one for both to come together for the transfer moment, which is a really nice moment.
Eloise Edington
How would patients know where to go to have scans or blood work done in their own country before coming out for the procedures?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Right now, we disagree a little bit with the Care Group in the UK, so if the patient doesn’t have anywhere to go, we may help her to find a clinic to do the scans and everything. Because I know that usually the blood tests and the scans can be done without problem at home.
Not only UK patients—we have patients all around Europe that do all the first steps of the treatment with their general doctors or ultrasound groups, and only come here for the transfer.
Eloise Edington
And then people test at home, I presume—and then let you know the results?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Yes, and we have this personalized treatment. Our colleagues from the International Department are, during the day, receiving all the ultrasounds and receiving all the blood tests of our patients. We see the results, and we send them the response the same day with the instructions to follow.
Eloise Edington
Great. Does anyone have any questions for Dr. Blanco? Please do ask—she would be very happy to help.
Also, if anyone would like a personalized consult—a free personalized consult with the team—please do get in touch with us, or you can follow our link in bio to speak to the team about personalized care.
I want to ask you a little bit about travel. We’ve just discussed it, but it’s more affordable to have treatment in Spain, isn’t that right, compared to the UK or the US?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Yes. Really, the lab—as I told you—has it all here. We have really, really good results. Also, particularly in our clinic, we see that we have results that are above the European and Spanish average. Our results show that between the first and second transfer of embryo of oocyte donation program, the patient usually gets the positive.
So in the first cycle, we do a 65–70% possibility of pregnancy, and with the second one we arrive at almost 80% of pregnancies. We work only with embryos at the blastocyst stage, and the selection of the embryo is really, really important for us.
As you know, the law only allows us to work with young, fertile women—that is, women between 18 and 35. The woman has been tested for a lot of diseases, so it’s really how we choose the donor and how the lab treats the embryo that gives us a good possibility of implantation.
Eloise Edington
That’s a very good, high success rate. What about for someone who is using their own eggs?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
That depends on the woman’s age. Actually, we recommend—I’m telling you the difference between Spain and other countries—here, we also have good rates of cycles with the own egg.
But because we offer PGT—we can do the PGT-A—once the woman reaches the age of 38, we recommend doing a cycle with PGT. That way, we try to transfer only the embryos that are genetically normal, and that gives us good results.
For us, the most important is the embryo. So only if we know that the embryo is genetically euploid, that gives us a possibility of almost 75% of positive pregnancy.
Eloise Edington
And if someone is experiencing recurrent miscarriage, for example, would you start testing the uterine lining, etc.?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
First, we have to guarantee that the embryo is a good one—not only in quality, but also the genetic quality of the embryo.
If we have one embryo with genetic quality, and we still have implantation failure or we still have recurrent miscarriage, then we can proceed with the other tests—endometrial biopsy to study the microbiota and also the immunological state of the endometrium before transfer.
But first, if we guarantee that the embryo is euploid, we don’t talk about implantation failure if we don’t know the quality of the embryo. So for us, as I told you, it’s really important—knowing how the embryo is.
Eloise Edington
Yeah, and do you recommend PGT-A for most of your patients?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Sorry—for?
Eloise Edington
Would you recommend PGT-A for most of your patients? Do most patients at IVF Life have PGT-A done on the embryos?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
No. If it’s the embryos donor, no, because we know that we are working with young, fertile women, so it’s not necessary. At least not routinely.
But if the male has a male factor—genetical one—yes, we are going to recommend to go straight to the PGT-A, even if it’s oocyte donation. But if it’s only the oocyte problem, no, not necessary, because we eliminate the oocyte problem by changing the donor.
Eloise Edington
Okay, that’s good to know. Thank you.
Again, if anyone has any questions, please do ask, or you can follow up with a personalized consult with IVF Life. Follow our link in bio to contact and speak to the team directly.
What about if an embryo isn’t developing as fast as you would like, and so by day five it’s a day four embryo and it’s not quite blastocyst?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
If the embryo doesn’t reach the stage of blastocyst, usually that may be due to three reasons.
First, oocyte factor—but usually, if you are working with a young woman, that shouldn’t be the reason.
Second, a male factor. We know that when the embryo stops developing between day three and day five, it’s secondary to a male factor. So we start looking and doing the different tests through the man.
If not, it will be just chance—it just happens. It may happen once, but just because it happens once doesn’t mean it will happen twice or three times. That’s why we try to guarantee embryos on day five.
Because maybe one cycle doesn’t work—nature doesn’t always work as we want—so if one cycle doesn’t work, we give the patient the opportunity to work with another donor and change the oocyte to see the result with a different one. That, for us, is trying to eliminate all the factors.
But if the problem is the sperm, and we have no possibility to improve in the lab, we would have to recommend sperm donation. That depends on the result.
Eloise Edington
What percentage of patients are from another country coming for treatment in Spain?
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
For us, that will be different in each clinic. But here in San Sebastián, we say 50/50 approximately.
I know that Alicante has a lot of international patients, so I don’t really know the percentage there—maybe it’s 60/40.
In Madrid, I don’t really know, but I know Madrid works a lot with local patients as well.
But in general, the three clinics work a lot with international patients. Today, 20% of the cycles we do are oocyte donation programs.
Eloise Edington
Right, okay, that’s good to know. And obviously, traveling to Spain for treatment—you get to stay in a wonderful city and absorb the culture, and if the beach is close, also relish the Mediterranean diet.
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Yeah, that’s true. That’s important as well. But really, if you ask me things in general, I will tell you: it’s Spain—because of the quality, because of the code, and the privacy.
Eloise Edington
And as you mentioned, the state-of-the-art lab—using the best technology that you have, which obviously is very, very important.
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Very important. I always say a gynecologist must be married to the lab. Because even if we try here in the consultation, if we don’t have a good lab, we can’t offer a good result. And here, we can guarantee—you will have all. We have it all in the lab.
Top-quality embryologists as well—that’s main.
That is really, really important. It’s not only the gynecologist, not only the ultrasound. It’s really important how they keep the embryos in the lab—the culture.
Eloise Edington
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Blanco, for telling us all about the process and the reasons people come to Spain for treatment, which—as you said—there are many.
So, for all those who are watching back or who’ve joined today, please do tap our link in bio for a free consult with the team, who would be delighted to help you with your personalized treatment plan and next steps.
Thank you very much.
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Oh, thank you.
Eloise Edington
Thanks, everyone.
Dr. Zulyma Blanco
Bye.
Eloise Edington
Bye-bye.
