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Measuring
Time- A Woman's Biological Clock
Researchers
in the UK have reported that they have developed a formula for
calculating how many egg follicles a human ovary contains based
on its size, an insight they hope eventually will help predict
how many years of fertility a woman has left.
A test using
an ultrasound scan may someday be able to accurately predict how
many childbearing years are left for women whose fertility has
been damaged by cancer treatments, although more research is needed.
This
test could eventually be available to healthy women trying to
decide when to have children.
Fertility
information would be particularly useful to women who have had
chemotherapy as children or young adults and do not know how much
the treatment will shorten their childbearing years, the researchers
said. Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have and
lose some every year.
Doctors have
long been aware that the size of the ovary is a good indicator
of how many eggs are left, and infertility clinics often use ultrasound
scanners to measure patients' ovaries and determine whether they
are likely to conceive with treatment. This
new test could aid in that process.
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