12 May 2010
By Teena Thacker
At Hinduja Hospital, women queue up for a test that predicts how many years they will remain fertile WOMEN who don’t want to rush into pregnancy need no longer worry how long it is safe to put it off. A test at Hinduja Hospital has been predicting the number of fertile years left for a woman, with 20 from all over the country having taken it since it was introduced less than a month ago.
The anti–mullerian hor mone or egg–timer test is a simple blood test that can measure woman’s egg reserves. Doctors say most women these days want to put pregnancy on hold till their thirties and the test would help them know how long they can keep on delaying it.
“With more and more women working these days, they want to plan their pregnancy. However, that delay has often caused problems, with many not conceiving at all. With the introduction of tests like this, they get to know how much more or little they can continue not being pregnant,” Dr Vipla Puri, consultant, laboratory medicine, told The Indian Express.
Dr Puri said the same test can also help a woman know if she can conceive at all.
“This test also helps us know if at all a woman can conceive or not, whether IVF will work, since the test calculates the ovarian reserve.”
Since the hospital introduced the test, the 20–odd women from Mumbai, Gujarat and other places who have already taken it have been mostly in their thirties, Dr Puri said.
Several similar tests exist but doctors say this one is the most accurate as it works independently of the phase of the cycle. “The other tests are mostly intra–vaginal sonography tests. This is simplest and most accurate test so far,” Dr Puri said.
According to various studies, natural fertility drops off ten years before menopause.
The test, which costs Rs 1,500, is being done in only a few laboratories, which have an Elisa reader.
“It is a fairly uncommon test. In Delhi there are no hospitals doing it,” said Dr Asha Sharma, head of obstetrics and gynaecology at Rockland Hospital.
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