Have you ever thought of the age limit to become a mother? To answer this question, you need to check your ovarian reserve. It refers to the ability of your ovaries in keeping them ovulating correctly in order to achieve the pregnancy. This is not an external capacity, even if it seems strange, the truth is that the female body is designed to be fertile just for a few years.
Women are born with a definite number of eggs estimated at approximately one million as explained by Dr. Santillán, medical director at Eva Clinics. Every month some of these eggs start growing but just one of them ovulates, the rest die. In this way, the reserve is used during the fertile period of the woman’s life.
Another important detail to take into consideration is that every woman has a different ovarian reserve. Some of them achieve the pregnancy at an older age while others have a lower number of eggs from the beginning or they were used in a faster way. Being aware of this information at an early stage can represent a big advantage for the woman and of the antimüllerian hormone study which is a useful tool.
What is antimüllerian hormone (AMH) and how is it used?
The AHM hormone is a substance secreted by the ovarian follicles. It is measured through the blood and its study allows obtaining useful information in assisted reproduction.
Why is it used?
After reaching adulthood, this hormone helps measuring the woman’s ovarian reserve, meaning the eggs which are stored in the ovary which can be still used in the upcoming years. AHM hormone, and therefore the ovarian reserve, decreases with the age until reaching the age of 35 years old, when there is approximately 10% reserve left as pointed out by Dr. Santillán.
On the other hand, information about this hormone is very useful to administer the medication with assisted reproduction. The AHM value in blood predicts the response of the ovary in fertility treatments with ovarian stimulation. This is very important to understand if there is any risk of ovarian hyperstimulation or low ovarian response in order to choose the most appropriate medication.
When AMH is to be performed?
AMH values does not change very much during the menstrual cycle and it can be measured at any time during the month.
