Fertility alarm invented for biological clock | The Courier-Mail
A NEW test that can measure a woman's egg reserve is set to revolutionise the way women think about their future.
The test, dubbed the "egg timer", will allow women for the first time to know how fast their biological clock is ticking.
As soon as next month, the simple and cheap blood test will be routinely offered by IVF Australia after it was recently proven as the best known indicator of fertility.
"I think this is a big step forward," medical director of IVF Australia, Assistant Professor Peter Illingworth, told The Sunday Mail.
"For a woman who is facing decisions about how active they should get about chasing her fertility in one way or another, it's information about what the future may hold for her.
"For a 30-year-old woman, it gives her an idea of whether she's at risk of having an early menopause or she's got plenty of time to carry on and have a baby."
The revolutionary test – costing $65 – will for the first time accurately tell women how many eggs they have left, indicating whether a couple should strive for natural conception, try IVF treatment or consider options such as adoption or egg donation.
Prof Illingworth said the test measured the concentration of a specific hormone found in a woman's ovaries, called anti-mullerian hormone (AMH).
AMH testing, or the "egg timer", could potentially save couples tens of thousands of dollars in IVF treatments sure to be unsuccessful, as well as remove the anguish of uncertainty.
It will also be a crystal ball for younger women envisioning having babies in their late 30s or 40s, allowing them to plan whether they have the time to wait based on their current egg count and potentially reversing Australia's current trend of having children later in life.
A woman is born with one to two million eggs and over the course of her life they are gradually used up every month until menopause.
Prof Illingworth said an average 20-year-old woman had a bank of 200,000 eggs, a number that halves as she enters her 30s and can drop as low as 2000 after 40.
Feminist commentator Catharine Lumby said the most important thing women needed was more choice – which the test gave them.
"Women across the world are often torn between the demand that they have a career and the demand they populate the planet," Ms Lumby, 48, said.
"I think it would be fantastic if women get to have this knowledge so they can make choices earlier on."
Vanessa Thompson, 38, and her husband David, 40, from Upper Kedron, in Brisbane, already had one son Beau, 9, when they underwent IVF a couple of years ago after struggling to conceive another child.
After IVF treatment, Mrs Thompson gave birth to twins Jak and Zeb, now two.
"I think the new test is good because being able to tell how many eggs you have means you know how much time you have," Mrs Thompson said.
"But I'm sure it might put the pressure on some people too."
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