Egg Check for women's fertility

By JULIET ROWAN

Women worried about time running out to have children now have the option of a fertility check that uses the latest technology to assess their eggs.

Egg Check, offered by Fertility Associates in Auckland, uses advanced ultrasound to estimate the number of quality eggs a woman has left in her ovaries.

The procedure, which the clinic says is painless, costs $400 and takes about 30 minutes.

It requires women to take a blood test and a vaginal ultrasound.

Ultrasound has been used in fertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) for many years.

But new versions provide a clearer picture of egg numbers and ovary mass, the most accurate indicators of fertility.

Fertility Associates anticipates Egg Check will be used by women who have put careers ahead of starting a family and are concerned their biological clock is ticking.

The clinic's Dr Simon Kelly said others who wanted to check their fertility after surgery, cysts or chemotherapy would also benefit.

He said the procedure would not necessarily allow doctors to set a time limit on a woman's fertility but would provide a good "here and now" assessment.

Fertility Associates will recommend that women do an Egg Check every one to two years, particularly if they are older.

"At the end of the day, age is still the most important factor in fertility," Dr Kelly said.

Women are born with two million eggs.

By the time they reach adolescence, they have only about 500,000 eggs and the number continues to decline until menopause.

The fall accelerates from about age 38.

Dr Kelly said Egg Check would be useful in helping women avoid expensive fertility treatments.

For example, if a 32-year-old woman is found to have egg quality typical of a 38-year-old woman, she will be advised to start thinking about having children sooner rather than later.