Ovarian Reserve Tests

At Penn Fertility Care - Lancaster General Health, our experienced fertility team offers on-site ovarian reserve tests in our comfortable, private clinic. You receive fast, accurate results and the personalized attention you deserve.

What Is Ovarian Reserve?

Ovarian reserve refers to the number of eggs in your ovaries and the quality of those eggs. Your ovarian reserve naturally decreases as you age and approach menopause. Some women experience a diminished ovarian reserve earlier in life. This is a common cause of infertility. We check your ovarian reserve as part of basic infertility testing for women.

What to Expect During Your Egg Reserve Test

Blood tests and an imaging exam help us determine your ovarian reserve. For your convenience, we try to perform all of these tests in a single visit:

• Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH): FSH is a hormone made by the pituitary gland that signals the follicles in your ovaries to develop the mature egg that you will ovulate. An FSH blood test checks your levels of this hormone. High FSH levels may be a sign of reduced ovarian reserve; your body makes more FSH in an attempt to develop more eggs.
• Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH): AMH is a hormone made by ovarian follicles. AMH levels reflect the remaining egg supply in your ovaries - the more follicles you have, the higher your AMH levels. Low AMH levels may be a sign of diminished ovarian reserve. High AMH levels could indicate polycystic ovary syndrome.
• Antral follicle count (AFC): We measure the follicles in your ovaries with a transvaginal ultrasound, usually during the first few days of your menstrual cycle. We look at the size of your follicles (follicles swell as eggs develop inside them) and count the number of visible follicles. The number of ovarian follicles you have decreases with age. Low AFC (fewer than 10) may be a sign of reduced ovarian reserve.

What If I Have a Diminished Ovarian Reserve?

If tests show that you have a low ovarian reserve, it doesn't mean you won't get pregnant. But it may affect your doses of fertility medication, as well as treatment options we consider. But women with higher ovarian reserves tend to respond better to ovarian stimulation medications, drugs that help your ovaries to produce an egg each month. A diminished ovarian reserve can also make it harder to get pregnant with intrauterine insemination or in vitro fertilization.

Our fertility specialists have extensive experience treating women with low egg counts, so we understand the unique challenges you face. We design customized fertility plans tailored to your needs, which may include:

• Donor eggs are frozen eggs that you receive from a third-party donor.
• Egg freezing means we retrieve your remaining eggs through a surgical procedure and freeze them in our lab to use in future fertility treatments such as IVF.
• In vitro fertilization is the process of combining eggs and sperm in a lab to produce an embryo that we transfer to your uterus.
• Ovarian superovulation (also called controlled ovarian hyperstimulation) uses fertility drugs to help your ovarian follicles grow and release multiple eggs each month, not just one. There is a risk of multiples (twins or triplets) with this treatment, which your fertility specialist will discuss with you.

Make an Appointment

Call 717-544-0107 or request an appointment to schedule your fertility consultation.