FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions
CETI’s International Department aims to provide personalised management for all clients from abroad. We have a dedicated team ready to facilitate all the logistics of your treatment, including making appointments for the initial online assessment, booking the hotel, organising private transport and all the necessary interconnections with the resident clinical team.
You must contact the CETI during office hours, Monday to Friday, from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm and from 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm (UTC +1 WEST, Western European Summer Time). The response time to your email will be less than 24 hours.
Email: international@ceti.pt
Phone Number 1: (+351) 226 076 530 1
Phone Number 2 & Whatsapp: (+351) 938 873 812 2
1 Landline calls to Portugal
2 Mobile Network calls to Portugal
Yes, our clinical team speak fluent English.
The first step in any treatment is an online consultation with the Reproductive Medicine doctor to gather the relevant clinical information needed to start the process. During this consultation, all subsequent steps will be explained in detail, and you will be immediately accompanied by our patient coordinator.
The woman must undergo at least clinical and hormonal analyses, as well as a transvaginal ultrasound. The man will need to undergo clinical and hormonal tests, as well as a spermogram. Additional tests may be required.
The recommended treatment depends solely on your clinical situation. A fertility assessment is necessary to gain a more accurate perspective of the most suitable treatment. The CETI provides detailed information on costs.
The CETI’s clinical team is supervised by Professor João Luís Silva Carvalho and comprises more than 25 healthcare professionals, including 18 doctors (8 of whom are dedicated to fertility). Most of these doctors also work in public and private hospitals, giving them a wealth of clinical experience. Find out more about our clinical here.
We offer all types of Medically Assisted Reproduction treatments, including In Vitro Fertilisation / Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (oocyte donation, sperm donation, embryo donation or double donation), Intra-Uterine Insemination (Artificial Insemination), Oocyte Cryopreservation, and Cryopreserved Embryo Transfers.
Yes, the CETI’s patient co-ordination team will always have someone responsible for your stay, and you will be provided with an exclusive number, available 24 hours a day. Please note that the clinic is just 100 metres from the hotel, which facilitates ongoing monitoring.
CETI has no waiting time for egg donation, so the time between your contact and the start of treatment is approximately one to one and a half months.
The length of your stay in Portugal can vary between 3 and 7 nights, depending on the type of clinical protocol.
In the case of a 3-night stay, you will have to make two trips at different times. One of these trips will be for the collection of sperm to be used to fertilise the oocyte. In this case, the second trip only lasts 2 days, as it only concerns the embryo transfer.
In the case of a 7-night stay, you will only need to make one trip. The sperm collection and fertilisation are carried out on the same day, and the embryo transfer will take place up to 5 days after the day of fertilisation.
We only use fresh oocytes for egg donation as this leads to:
- Higher success rates: Fresh oocytes generally have higher success rates for fertilisation and subsequent pregnancy compared to vitrified oocytes.
- Immediate use: There is no need to go through the process of freezing and thawing, which can potentially damage the oocytes.
- No risk of freezing damage: Fresh oocytes avoid all the risks associated with the vitrification process.
CETI is located in the centre of Porto, in the north of Portugal, on Avenida da Boavista (Boavista Boulevard). This avenue is one of the city’s noblest areas, home to the city’s best hotels and attractions such as the Casa da Música and the Parque da Cidade.
In terms of accessibility, the CETI is 10.9 km (17/18 minutes by car) from Campanhã station and 12.7 km (18/20 minutes by car) from Francisco de Sá Carneiro airport. Avenida da Boavista’s central, urban location means that there are plenty of hotels within a very short walk (5/10 minutes). You can easily search for a myriad of options on Booking or Airbnb.
This centrality also offers access to numerous means of public transport, including buses, the metro, taxis and Uber. For reference, taking a taxi from the airport to CETI will cost you around €20 and take around 14 minutes.
The hotel with which the CETI has a protocol is the Porto City House and it is just 100 metres from the clinic, a 3-minute walk. With this proximity, we can provide more continuous and immediate support if required. All rooms have a kitchenette, so you can prepare your own meals. You can see the hotel at the link www.portocityhouse.pt
CETI has a partnership with a specialist transport company that will be on hand to take you to your hotel. The driver will be duly identified and fluent in your language. The partner will also be responsible for transporting you to the airport on your return journey to your home country.
Yes, we can provide all detailed costs. However, you can view the prices and packages agreed with the Storks of Hope association here.
The medical prescription for the oocyte donation process is issued in Portuguese and is valid only in Portugal. However, the Storks of Hope Association can help you to obtain a prescription applicable in English.
The donor is selected taking into account both clinical and legal aspects. In terms of clinical assessment, all donors go through a rigorous clinical assessment process. The first stage of this process involves consultations and interviews with doctors and embryologists, who carry out a history and physical examination, blood tests, ultrasound scans and other tests. They must ensure that the applicant meets a set of mandatory criteria, including being aged between 18 and 34, in good health, with no history of sexually transmitted diseases, genetic disorders or other illnesses. They must also be physically and psychologically fit to donate their eggs. It is also important to ensure that all legal authorisations and consents are signed and duly validated.
Very low. It is recommended to transfer a single embryo. The transfer of more than one embryo is only carried out in very exceptional and specific clinical situations.
It depends on your specific case. A thorough assessment of your fertility is necessary to determine your chances of conception.
The matching process is carried out by the clinical team taking into account the compatibility of the oocyte recipient’s phenotypic characteristics, such as:
- Skin tone
- Eye colour
- Hair type and colour
- Height/height
- Blood type
All legal authorisations and consents must be signed and validated.
Phenotypic criteria, to be precise:
Skin tone, eye colour, height/height, blood type and hair colour.
Skin tone, eye colour, hair type and colour, height/height, blood type, age.
There are several options and approaches, but it will depend on your specific situation. If surplus oocytes are available, cryopreserved embryo transfer may be possible. If there is an inadequate response to a specific treatment, it may be necessary to modify the protocol or treatment.