If you have been trying to get pregnant for a year or more without success, you may soon be undergoing testing to try and determine the cause of infertility.
There are basically four methods used to diagnose female infertility:
- Day Three FSH
- Day Three Inhibin B Level
- Clomid Challenge
- Antral Follicle Count
Day Three FSH
Day Three FSH is a blood test that measures levels of FSH, or follicle stimulating hormone. FSH is a hormone that fluctuates in relation to a woman’s ovulation cycle. At one time, it was believed that these FSH levels could be used to determine the existence of a high ovarian reserve, meaning a large number of eggs still in the ovaries. However, research has shown that this is not the case. FSH will only have very high levels at the end of a woman’s egg supply. So, this information isn’t really helpful to a woman in planning when in life to start trying to get pregnant, since it does not predict where she is in terms of her biological clock.
Day Three Inhibin B Level
Day Three Inhibin B Level is a blood test that measures a hormone used to inhibit the pituitary’s release of Follicle Stimulating Hormone. Just as with measuring FSH, this test is also ineffective in predicting ovarian reserve until it is already too late. So, it isn’t much help to a woman who wants to know her cut-off date for starting a family.
Clomid Challenge Test
The Clomid Challenge Test is another one that measures FSH levels to determine how many eggs are left in the ovaries, but it does so by measuring her FSH levels while taking Clomid, a drug used for stimulating ovulation in infertile women. The FSH levels while a woman is on Clomid vary widely, and fail to give an accurate interpretation of ovarian reserve. Again, this test isn’t much help until it is too late and the ovarian reserve is too low.
Antral Follicle Count
Of the four tests, this one gets the highest marks. Antral follicles are small follicles in the ovaries that can be seen and counted with ultrasound. The number of antral follicles present and visible on ultrasound is indicative of the number or primordial follicles remaining. Each primordial follicle contains an immature egg that can develop in the future. So, if there are only a few antral follicles, there are only a few eggs. If there are a lot of antral follicles, there are a lot of eggs.
These are the four most commonly used tests for female infertility.
