Female aging and superovulation induction for IVF.

The success of in vitro fertilization (IVF) has been reported to be adversely affected by increasing women's age. The main reason being that older women more frequently show a poorer response to stimulation. Information about such variability in ovarian responsiveness to stimulation is important for assessing the chances for successful pregnancy in older women undergoing assisted reproduction, because those with limited ovarian reserve should be counseled to consider other therapeutic options without delay. I present results demonstrating the ovarian response to gonadotropin stimulation and the success rate in 746 IVF cycles. A brief overview on current methods of evaluating ovarian reserve as a means to identify the poor responder, and a discussion on the efficacy of several stimulation regimens for old women with limited ovarian reserve is also provided.