News
What is a Normal Antral Follicle Count?
Unlike men, who produce sperm on an ongoing basis, females are born with a lifetime supply of eggs in their ovaries. By the time a girl reaches puberty, many of those eggs will have been lost through a natural process called ovarian follicle atresia, leaving a woman with around 300,000 eggs. When a girl reaches puberty, each month around 20 ovarian follicles will develop with only one being released. The rest of the follicles will undergo atresia such that women are not losing only one egg per cycle to ovulation, but rather a large number of eggs. It is estimated that women will lose close to 1,000 follicles for every follicle that is ovulated.
What is an Antral Follicle?
An antral follicle, also known as a “resting” follicle, is a small, fluid-filled sac that contains an immature egg. Each month, women create multiple antral follicles which can be viewed, measured and counted by ultrasound examination during their cycle. The best time of the cycle to assess an “antral follicle count” is around day 3 of the menstrual period, before any large follicles have formed on either ovary. The number of antral follicles will vary from month to month and will decline as a woman ages and advances towards menopause. Read more information about Antral Follicle.
Why is Antral Follicle Count so Important?
When determining the fertility potential of a woman, fertility doctors will find out the number of antral follicles she has each month, or her antral follicle count. They use that information along with her age, and her day 3 hormone level testing of AMH, FSH, estradiol and progesterone to determine her fertility potential.
These tests are used as indicators for estimating how many eggs she has remaining, also known as her “ovarian reserve”, and the woman’s chances for conceiving using her own eggs. The antral follicles give fertility doctors a good indication of the number of mature follicles that a woman has in her ovaries that can be stimulated by fertility medications during a treatment cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Antral Follicles and IVF
During a cycle of IVF, a woman’s fertility doctor will prescribe hormone medications that will stimulate as many of her antral follicles to grow as possible that month.
Throughout the IVF cycle, the doctor will use hormone level blood tests and ultrasounds to monitor the development of these antral follicles to select the best timing of when the follicles have developed mature eggs.
When the timing is right, they will prescribe an injectable medication that is used to trigger a release of the eggs and then 24 hours later they will retrieve all of the mature eggs from the ovaries in a procedure called an egg retrieval. The number of eggs retrieved directly correlates with the success rate of IVF. The more mature eggs that are retrieved, the higher the changes of having a child through IVF.
What is a Normal Antral Follicle Count?
When an average to high number of antral follicles (8+) are seen by ultrasound, this conveys a better prognosis for fertility treatments such as IVF. Lower numbers of antral follicles, such as 6-8 can be a sign that more aggressive treatments may be needed to optimize the eggs left in a woman’s reserve.
Antral follicle counts from 3-6 do not mean that a woman cannot become pregnant, but treatment should not be delayed if possible.
Antral follicle counts are one of the best tests available that fertility doctors use to measure a woman’s ovarian reserve and fertility potential.
-
Tech4 weeks ago
Xiaomi Poco X3 – The latest mid-range smartphone with a fast gaming processor
-
Beauty4 weeks ago
Onion Shampoo for Hair: Can It Stop Hair Fall?
-
Fitness4 weeks ago
What is Yoga Alliance Certification and Who Needs It?
-
Sports4 weeks ago
The Largest Ever Online Casino Wins that Changed Lives
-
Finance4 weeks ago
Robotic Process Automation: The Future that Banking Sector should Definitely Look For
-
Business4 weeks ago
Overview of India’s Major Exports & Imports
-
drugs3 weeks ago
Essential Steps to Consider – Before Starting with Suboxone Treatment
-
Tech4 weeks ago
How to Create a Killer Mobile App Content Strategy?
-
Education3 weeks ago
Counseling vs. Psychotherapy: Know the Difference
-
Tech4 weeks ago
4 Ways Technology Is Reshaping the Field Of Psychology
-
Tech4 weeks ago
Aircraft Engineering Design and Manufacturing Process
-
Relationship4 weeks ago
How Parental Conflicts Affect A Child’s Health
-
News2 weeks ago
Amid Olympic concerns, Japan begins COVID-19 vaccination drive
-
Conditions and Treatments4 weeks ago
What you need to know about the COVID-19 Mutation
-
Education3 weeks ago
The Journey of Innovating Education by Reinventing Methodology
-
Business3 weeks ago
List of Required Skills to Work with Taxes
You must be logged in to post a comment Login