2. What is AMH?
Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) is a hormone
produced by cells in the follicles [small developing egg
sacs] that contain an egg in a woman's ovaries.
Hence, AMH indicates the number of eggs being
produced during a woman's monthly cycle.
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The level of AMH in a woman's blood is a good indicator of her
ovarian reserve and is helpful in assessing her fertility status.
A low level of AMH suggests that there is a significant reduction in
the remaining supply of eggs.
↓ AMH levels are seen in those who respond poorly to fertility drugs.
One advantage of the AMH test is that it does not change over the
course of the menstrual cycle, and so can be tested at any time of
the month.
3. What is Ovarian reserve?
When a woman is wanting to start a family and
is unable to do so successfully over a period of
time, her doctor may wish to check the patient’s
ovarian reserve to confirm that her supply of
eggs is not already significantly reduced.
AMH test is a valuable piece of information that
helps to identify women who would have a lower
pregnancy rate from fertility treatment.
4. How can AMH results be helpful?
A low ovarian reserve is one factor in identifying women
who may have a low chance of success from fertility
treatment.
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Measurement of ovarian reserve also aids to decide the ideal dose
of medicine(s) during (IVF)fertility treatments,eg. identify women
who are more likely to over-respond or hyper-stimulate during IVF
treatment, and the dose of fertility medicine can be adjusted to
minimize that risk.
In case the patient has voluntarily decided to delay
starting a family, a check on the ovarian reserve is
confirms that her supply of eggs is adequate ahead.
Unusually high ovarian reserve indicates PCOS
[polycystic ovarian syndrome].
5. What are the Limitations of the
AMH Test?
In order to give a complete fertility assessment, AMH
results need to be interpreted by a fertility specialist
taking into account a number of other factors.
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Eg. The implications of a low AMH level may vary depending
upon a woman's age.
In younger women a low AMH may indicate that it may be more
difficult to obtain eggs during fertility treatment, but does not
necessarily mean that eggs obtained from treatment will be
poor quality.
In other words whilst a low AMH indicates a reduced ovarian
reserve, it does not necessarily provide information about eggs
quality.
6. So, what does AMH do?
Changes
women’s lives
by properly reflecting her
biological clock.
• AMH is like an hourglass
that’s turned over from the
time she is born. Each grain
of sand is one egg, and
eventually they all run out.
AMH measures how much
sand is still left at the top.
7. So, what does AMH reflect?
Fewer eggs equals
fewer chances for
babies.
• the most prominent
tool for fertility
specialists across
the world to
determine the
chances of their
patients getting
pregnant.
Until now, a fertile
woman had 2 choices
for starting a family:
• start trying and find out
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soon, or
don’t start trying yet and
find out later.
8. AMH utility - promises to pinpoint her
chances of getting pregnant, today
For the fertility specialist
For the woman
• Who has wondered about how many more years she could wait to have
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children;
Who has been unsure about how many more dates she could go on
before finding her ideal mate and start a family,
Who has worried about how many promotions she could attain before
being tied down,
Who has pondered about how many more professional degrees she
could add.
Plan and set expectations after checking the
ovarian reserve
9. Precautions with AMH
Women taking the oral contraceptive pill and
whose AMH results reflect a poor ovarian
reserve must repeat the test after a month of
being off the contraceptive pill.
10. Precautions with AMH
Women taking the oral contraceptive pill and
whose AMH results reflect a poor ovarian
reserve must repeat the test after a month of
being off the contraceptive pill.