Fertility Evaluation

WEBVTT 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:07.820 When you should seek care is going to 00:00:07.845 --> 00:00:15.220 depend on both your history and your age. 00:00:15.245 --> 00:00:23.620 For instance, we would suggest that an otherwise healthy couple 00:00:23.645 --> 00:00:28.860 under the age of 35 would try to achieve pregnancy for a year 00:00:28.885 --> 00:00:31.700 before seeking evaluation. 00:00:31.725 --> 00:00:40.700 If you're older, 35 to, say, 38, we would suggest 6 months. 00:00:40.725 --> 00:00:47.300 As you're approaching 40, that time limit is going to drop to 3 months. 00:00:47.325 --> 00:00:53.840 If you know there is an issue, if a male partner has maybe had a semen 00:00:53.865 --> 00:01:00.700 analysis in the past that was very abnormal or if you're a woman who 00:01:00.725 --> 00:01:05.900 never gets a period on her own, those are red flags that 00:01:05.925 --> 00:01:08.570 there's likely to be an issue. 00:01:08.600 --> 00:01:13.570 In that scenario, there's really no utility in staying 00:01:13.600 --> 00:01:18.490 home and banging your head against the wall waiting to hit your magic one year. 00:01:18.520 --> 00:01:21.770 Just call, make the appointment, come on in. 00:01:21.800 --> 00:01:27.520 When you talk about the components and what should be looked at, it's really 00:01:27.545 --> 00:01:33.210 going to start with three basic tests. 00:01:33.240 --> 00:01:40.320 That's going to be a hormonal evaluation of the female partner, it's going to be an 00:01:40.345 --> 00:01:44.480 anatomic evaluation of the female partner, looking at the inside of the uterus, 00:01:44.505 --> 00:01:48.380 looking at the fallopian tubes, and a semen analysis. 00:01:48.405 --> 00:01:53.570 That's really a very basic evaluation. 00:01:53.600 --> 00:01:58.840 It's not uncommon that secondary testing might be necessary based 00:01:58.865 --> 00:02:02.850 on the results of the initial testing. 00:02:02.880 --> 00:02:08.880 If you are never making an egg, if you are never having a menstrual cycle, if you're 00:02:08.905 --> 00:02:11.780 never bleeding, you can't get the baby. 00:02:11.805 --> 00:02:14.580 The egg is simply not there. 00:02:14.605 --> 00:02:19.320 That is usually quite obvious just in an initial conversation with a patient. 00:02:19.345 --> 00:02:25.080 When you start thinking about the more common reasons that people have 00:02:25.105 --> 00:02:29.170 difficulty conceiving, you're going to be thinking about things 00:02:29.200 --> 00:02:35.280 like polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:43.220 age-related declines in fertility, issues with sperm, male-factor infertility, 00:02:43.245 --> 00:02:46.500 low counts, low motility. 00:02:46.525 --> 00:02:52.160 Those are probably the four big ones and I certainly wouldn't want 00:02:52.185 --> 00:02:59.280 anyone to think that that's all we deal with or all we do, but those four 00:02:59.305 --> 00:03:03.920 diagnoses will encompass a majority of patients.