Diminished ovarian reserve means that a woman has fewer eggs in her ovaries than expected for her age. While men are able to produce new sperm throughout their lives, women are born with all the eggs they will ever have, which is called their ovarian reserve and they are not able to produce eggs later on. Diminished ovarian reserve can make it difficult to get pregnant or cause female infertility. About 15% of women experiencing infertility have a diminished ovarian reserve.
What are the causes of diminished ovarian reserve?
The most important factor among the causes of diminished ovarian reserve is advanced age. As age increases, egg reserve decreases. However, younger women may also have diminished ovarian reserve. Causes for this may be:
- Tubal disease
- Endometriosis
- Surgery related to the ovaries
- Radiotherapy and chemotherapy
- Smoking
- Family history of early menopause
- Genetic abnormalities such as fragile X, Turner syndrome syndrome
What are the symptoms of diminished ovarian reserve?
Diminished ovarian reserve presents no symptoms in most women. However, some women with a diminished ovarian reserve may experience symptoms such as difficulty getting pregnant, late or absent menstrual periods, shorter menstrual cycles than usual, heavy menstrual flow or miscarriage.
How is diminished ovarian reserve diagnosed?
Unfortunately, many women don’t know they have diminished reserves until they have difficulty getting pregnant. Women experiencing symptoms mentioned above should have some fertility tests done. Diminished ovarian reserve is diagnosed through transvaginal ultrasound examination and blood tests that measure FSH and AMH levels.
Treatment for diminished ovarian reserve.
There is no treatment available that can slow or prevent diminished ovarian reserve. However, women with a diminished ovarian reserve who want to become pregnant can still get pregnant with assisted reproductive technologies. When a woman is diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve, she can preserve her fertility by freezing her eggs and use frozen embryos later through IVF when she is ready to become pregnant. In addition, although the success rate is not high, PRP, hormone treatments containing DHEA, acupuncture are among the treatments used for diminished ovarian reserve. If you have been diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve, consult us to learn about treatment options with high success rates.
