Women in their late 20s and early 30s who want to accurately determine their fertility can now do so. Doctors recommend women in that age gap to undergo ovarian reserve evaluations every year.
Dr. Kaylen Silverberg, the co-founder of fertility laboratory Ovarian Fertility based in Los Angeles, said women in their late 20s and early 30s can have their ovarian reserve examined at their OB-GYN or a reliable fertility clinic, Fox News reported. For the procedure, women have to have their blood drawn on day three of their menstrual cycle.
Ovarian reserve testing measures estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone (FDH) and Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) of women. By acquiring this crucial information, experts can tell if a woman's ovarian reserve is steady or weakening.
Reproductive Lifespan Determined
According to Silverberg, ovarian reserve testing determines where women's reproductive lifespan is situated. The test can tell the exact rate of a woman's fertility number and how fast her ovarian reserve is plummeting. Afterward, gynecologists and fertility specialists will be able to advise women on how to proceed, Fox News further reported.
Women with lower ovarian reserve can still have regular menstruation cycles, but they have fewer ovarian follicles that prevent them from successfully responding to fertility medications, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists wrote. Women with lower ovarian reserve also have lessened fecundity, which is the ability of females to produce healthy offspring.
However, it should be noted that a woman with reduced ovarian reserve doesn't mean she is completely unable to get pregnant. Poor ovarian reserve shouldn't limit or deny women access from infertility treatment as well.
Thyroid Cancer Medication Lowers Ovarian Reserve
Researchers recently found that pre-menopausal women's ovarian reserve can be decreased by a certain medication for thyroid cancer. Radioactive iodine therapy, or RAI, reportedly lowers AMH levels in women in the first year after their cancer treatment, Healio reported.
Dr. Karen Tordjman, the study's senior author and an associate professor of medicine at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, said high-dose RAI therapy can irreversibly damage a woman's ovarian reserve. Some women who underwent RAI therapy have earlier menopause, Oncology Nurse Advisor wrote.
The study found that women saw their AMH levels decreasing by 45 percent three months after their RAI therapy. Researchers warned that doctors should be more careful when it comes to recommending RAI therapy to thyroid cancer patients, especially to young women.
Other contributors to a woman's infertility are smoking, excessive alcohol drinking, age, obesity, poor diet and high stress levels, Fox News listed. Sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea, chlamydia and tubal infection can also cause infertility among women, Her.ie reported.
