Posts Tagged ‘IVF success rates’

AMH, anti-mullerian hormone test may have increasing role

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

This is one of a series of news items from abstracts of studies presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine as complied by Dr. David Meldrum, Scientific Director of Reproductive Partners. We appreciate the enormous amount of work it takes to compile and comment on these abstracts.


 whanAMH, anti-mullerian hormone fertility testing may have an increasing role based on two poster presentations at the Annual Meeting.

In one study, the success rate of IVF was reduced by about one third in women with an AMH less than1 ng/ml but even in women with levels less than 0.1 ng/ml, 5 pregnancies were observed. Low or undetectable AMH may prompt the use of additional measures to try to improve response, but it should not in itself exclude a patient from trying IVF.

In a second study, over 15,000 serum levels for AMH  were examined relative to age. AMH was highly correlated with age. In the future nomograms will be available for patients to assess their ovarian age relative to their chronological age to make informed decisions regarding egg freezing for fertility preservation. This reason for doing IVF is expected to grow over the years and AMH determinations can be expected to be a driving force.

 

Another factor that reduces IVF success-dirty air

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

There is so much one can't do when going through an IVF cycle; now you can add another, breathing. Dirty air, that is.

A study reported in Science Daily and published in Human Reproduction showed exposure to an increased level of air pollutants, especially nitrogen dioxide, has been associated with lower likelihoods of successful pregnancy among women undergoing in vitro fertilization. They examined the outcomes of the first pregnancy attempt of 7,403 women undergoing IVF in Hershey, PA, Rockville, MD and New York, NY over a seven-year period from 2000 to 2007.

The main culprit appears to be nitrogen dioxide as higher nitrogen dioxide exposures consistently was associated with the lower success rate, regardless of which indictor was used — positive pregnancy test, clinically confirmed intrauterine pregnancy or live birth.

The answer to this is to have your IVF done in Redondo Beach or La Jolla, CA where the ocean breezes keep the air cleaner.