Ovulation Disorders Treatment

Ovulation disorders, infrequent or absent ovulation (anovulation), typically result in infrequent periods (oligomenorrhea). The results are

•fewer opportunities to conceive
•difficulty detecting a woman's fertile periods
•eggs not breaking through the follicle
•eggs being released off-sync with other factors crucial to fertilization or implantation

Sometypical causes of ovulation disorders include:

•hypothalamus dysfunction
•hyperprolactinemia
•polycystic ovarian syndrome
•luteal phase defect
•tumors of the pituitary or adrenal glands or ovaries
Less typical causes of ovulation disorder are:

•Primary ovarian failure (POF)
•Resistant ovary syndrome
•Autoimmune oophoritis

Diagnosis
In general, assessment for ovulation disorders may begin with the following lab tests:

•serum FSH
•serum LH
•serum prolactin
•serum testosterone
•free androgen index

and may also include:

•CAT scan or MRI scan of pituitary and hypothalamus
•endometrial biopsy
•ovarian biopsy
•more specific antibody tests (antithyroid, adrenal, islet-cell, gastric parietal cell)

Treatment
Treatments vary with the conclusion after diagnostic testing. In general, the treatments may include:

•use of ovulation-inducing fertility medications
•use of other drugs more specific to the diagnosed cause
•nutritional adjustment
•stress reduction
•surgery (in the case of tumors)

Only primary ovarian failure, and the related conditions of resistant ovary syndrome and autoimmune oophoritis, are considered untreatable in regards to fertility.