IVF after the age of 40 & Gender selections

Featured | Posted by helenalimyh

Question: I am current 40 years-old and would like to know what is my chance of getting pregnant with IVF. Can I choose the gender of my baby when I go through an IVF

Dr Helena’s Answer:

One of the biggest single determining factor for IVF success is the woman’s age. Before the age of 35, the IVF success rate is around 60-80%. After the age of 35, the success rate drops to 40-60%. The success rates of IVF drop drastically after the age of 40 to about 20-30% and then 1-2% after 45.

The reason for this is because as women aged, the number of follicles produce each menstrual cycle drop drastically. The quality of eggs also deteriorate as we age. As we aged, the division of chromosomes in our ovaries can become more imperfect, resulting production of eggs with faulty sets of chromosomes, leading to increase number of abnormal eggs and henceforth abnormal embryos.Therefore, women over the age of 40 has a lower rate of pregnancy with each individual IVF cycle, compare to their younger counterparts

This is a macroscopic view of the general population of women after the age of 40. However, an individual’s success rates is also dependent of her body condition, her ovarian reserves and her uterus receptivity. No two women at the age of 40 is exactly the same. A healthy 40 year-old woman with good ovarian reserves is more likely to produce good number of good quality embryos. Her counterpart who smokes and drinks, eats badly and have poor ovarian reserves is more likely to fail her IVF attempts.

Recently, advances in Pre-implantation Screening (PGS) tests allowed us to biopsy embryos at blastocyst stage to select embryos which is normal in chromosomal make-up before embryo transfer. This test is extremely useful in determining which embryo is more likely to get our patients pregnant. However, like all the tests in this world, it comes with its problems as well. First and foremost, PGS is still expensive, and this test can only be done on embryos created from IVF, which then increase the cost of the IVF cycle. If the embryos tested showed that all the embryos are abnormal, there is no way we can change or treat these embryos and make them chromosomally normal. And therefore, some patients may end up not having any embryos which is suitable for transfer after an IVF with PGS. However, if this is the scenario, the couple can then move on quickly to another cycle of IVF to collect more embryos for PGS, hence, shortening the time required to find the ‘right’ embryo to achieve pregnancy.

embryo-biopsy

Although this technology is able to reveal the gender of the embryo, one must realize that the use of such technology to perform gender selection in STRICTLY Prohibited in this country and also most countries in this world. It is important to note that IVF and PGS are technologies to help couples to achieve a healthy pregnancy and must not be misuse for ones’ whims and fancies. Science and technology should be use sensibly to maintain and restore nature’s balances and any manipulation as such can potentially tip off the balance and create potential disasters to mankind.

Anti Mullerian Hormone (AMH)- The Ultimate Ovarian Reserve Test?

Featured | Posted by helenalimyh

What you should know about AMH

When you seek medical advice for infertility issues, one of the hormone tests that you be advice to take is the Anti-Mullerian Hormone or AMH test. This test measures the AMH levels in your blood, which helps doctors determine your ovarian or egg reserve.

In this post, I’ll explain what egg reserves and AMH tests are, as well as what you can do if your AMH levels are low:

About egg reserves

Humans are born with a limited amount of eggs. To be precise, a girl is born with between one to two million immature eggs or follicles in her ovaries. But not all these follicles will survive into adulthood. In fact, throughout a woman’s life, the majority of her immature eggs will die in a natural process called atresia.

Did you know that by the time a girl has her first period, only about 400,000 follicles are left? And with each subsequent period, she loses about a thousand follicles, while just one matures into an ovum or egg. This means, throughout her reproductive life, a woman will develop only about 400 ovum. The number of developing follicles a woman has left, is called her “ovarian or egg reserve.”

Egg reserves and the quality of those eggs vary from one woman to another, due to factors such as age and infertility. Over time, both the quantity and quality of a woman’s eggs gradually decreases. Therefore, when seeking treatment for infertility, it is important for a woman to gain insight into the remaining quantity of her egg reserve and fertile years.

What is AMH?

When follicles develop in a woman’s egg reserve, her body release the Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH). AMH levels, therefore, can give us a good idea of the state of a woman’s ovarian reserve. Since AMH levels are determined by the number of developing follicles in a woman’s ovaries, low AMH levels are an indication that the ovarian reserve is depleted.

Fewer developing follicles mean slimmer chances for a mature and healthy egg to be released and fertilised. As such, when a woman knows the state of her egg reserve, she can determine how urgently she requires treatment.

AMH testing
While egg reserves generally decline in the mid to late 30s, leading to low AMH, age is not the only factor. Environmental factors can also cause low AMH, such as cancer treatment and inherited genetic causes. AMH levels can be easily assessed with a blood test, but like most diagnostic tests, it has its limitations. For example, it cannot indicate the quality of the eggs that are left, which requires a separate test. However, as AMH levels remain fairly constant in a woman’s cycle, she can have the test at any time.

What Can’t AMH tells you

As much as we would like to believe that AMH is ‘the ultimate test’ for ovarian reserves, however, it only tells us some aspect of your fertility performances but not all. AMH does not tell you the quality of your eggs. Therefore, some women who have plenty of eggs and high AMH level may not perform well in an IVF treatment cycle because of poor egg quality.

For women who take oral contraceptive pills, AMH level may not be a true reflection of their ovarian reserves. Those who were taking the pill had 19 percent lower levels of AMH and 16 percent fewer early-stage follicles.

Recently, there has been clinical studies which reported that there is a significant variation in serum AMH levels across the menstrual cycle regardless of ovulatory status. This variability, although statistically significant, is not large enough to warrant a change in current clinical practice to time AMH measurements to cycle day/phase.

What you can do

If you should take an AMH test and find that your level is low, do not lose heart! Your AMH level is just one piece in a complex jigsaw puzzle. Your best course of action is to discuss matters with your infertility specialist. Ask your doctor how you can protect your egg count and health, as well as discuss the best possible solution to your problem. For example, DHEA supplementation and well-managed IVF protocols have been shown to be effective in improving IVF pregnancy rates in women with low AMH. Maintain a positive outlook and don’t give up on your dreams of having a baby!