Genesis Fertility Clinic Blog
searching: “amh”
June 16, 2010
AMH
Fertility declines with age because egg number and quality decrease over time. This happens to all of us (unless you are a celebrity it seems! Ok, that’s a donor egg discussion I’ll leave for another entry).
To get a sense of how many eggs a women has left, and therefore how long she might be able to conceive, we test “ovarian reserve.” In general the two most commonly used and reliable tests are day 3 FSH and Estradiol levels and an ultrasound to count antral follicles (antral follicle count; AFC).
At Genesis we typically combine the information we get from the FSH level and AFC to get a sense of how many eggs are left – are you running low or do you have a good number for your age? You can read more about ovarian reserve testing elsewhere on this site.
There are other tests of ovarian reserve. It seems every few years a new one pops up, but until recently none has proven to be better than the FSH and AFC combination. Recently, anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) has been examined in large populations of women. It seems to be as good (some argue a little better) than AFC and FSH combined. I don’t think it’s better, but it can be helpful if the FSH and AFC are borderline or inconsistent.
It’s now available in BC through Lifelabs but for a fee of $225. I suspect in time it will be covered by MSP, but we’ll see.
FYI
Dr. Beth Taylor, MD, FRCSC
Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility