Ovarian Reserve Test

One of the leading cause of infertility today in western countries is what we call “diminish of our reserve”. What it means in very simple words is a decrease in the number and quality of eggs, and that’s something that commonly happen as women age. Age is a very important factor in fertility and success rate, and the reason why aging is so important is that women produce eggs only one time in their lifetime and that’s in - - up to 20 weeks gestation. A woman loses a thousand eggs every month from birth until menopause. The reason why fewer eggs are left after age 40 and the reason why we see much more infertility at this age. We see much more diminished ovarian reserve now a days than in the past. And the reason for that is the change in our society. Women are delaying child bearing now more than before. Either because of career, because they didn’t find the partner that they want, also, we have much more higher divorce rate. So we have many women in their late 30s or 40s that want to build a family with a new partner. The reason why we see many women of older reproductive age that are trying to conceive and are having infertility. There are a combination of tests for diminished ovarian reserves, or tests that an estimate the number of eggs left in the ovary. And usually there are a combination of hormonal testing, ultrasound, and blood work that can give us a pretty accurate estimate of the numbers of the eggs that are left. I think a very important point to say about tests for diminish of ovarian reserve, they should not be used to deny treatment for women. Unfortunately there are insurance companies and some fertility centers that will use these tests and apply some cut off for which a woman will not be allowed to use her own eggs. Our center used those tests for only two main reasons: The number one to understand better the underlying cause of infertility, and also to tailor the best fertility treatment for that patient.