Day 3 testing: blood work and ultrasound evaluation for egg donation

Hey, I’ve visited a fertility clinic because I’ve been trying for too long but I can’t get pregnant anyhow. Since I’m 42, they told me that I should go straight to egg donation because mine is a case of advanced maternal age. Now I have to go through a bloodwork and also ultrasound evaluation to check my hormone levels but it is performed on day 3 of cycle, once my period has finished, but why on that day? Does it matter?

Dear kitty,

it is true that a woman’s ovarian reserve diminishes dramatically year after year from age 40 onwards. By this time, the amount of eggs is available is becoming lower and the remaining eggs might be carriers of any genetic abnormality. For this reason, achieving a natural pregnancy is almost impossible and IVF success rates are low.

However, hormone levels can be analyzed to see how the patient’s ovarian reserve is currently. This allows you to know for certain which are your odds of getting pregnant with any fertility treatment. Blood test must be done on day day of the cycle because that’s the only way we can get representative hormone levels as to be compared with the reference values.

Hope this helps,

Regards