Get to know about Menopause and Woman's Biological Clock Ultrasound is the ultimate source that tell how much time's left on biological clock. Woman's ovaries contains number of eggs which are like the grains of sand in an hourglass, which tick away the hours on her biological clock. and researchers can now predict when that clock will wind down. Number of eggs can not be counted in an ovary, so doctors usually measure the volume of ovaries. British researchers reveals that there is a direct relation between the two. By measuring the volume of ovaries with the help of ultrasound doctors can predict when menopause will set in and how many fertile years a women has left with. This information will modernise the care of women who are looking for assisted reproductive technologies. This info is also helpful for the women who were treated for chilhood cancers as well as who want to put off starting a family. This information still needs to be validated in some of the clinical studies. This info is realy beneficial for the women who are being treated for cancer and who are attending some kind of fertility clinics. This is according to Tom Kelsey, co-author of the study appearing June 17 in the journal Human Reproduction. According to Kelsey, who is a senior research fellow at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, women who have got a long time till menopause she can plan for a range of treatments. And if she knew that menopause was likely in 4-5 years, then she should plan a different set of IVF [in vitro fertilization] treatments. Dr. Alan Copperman, director of reproductive medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. asked some questions like- "Should a young woman who is 30 years old go for a test to figure out whether she's got three, five or 10 years left on her fertility? Should she make career decisions and life decisions? Are these data good enough to make those determinations?" and the answer to all these questions is a big NO. The predictive value of this test is not good enough to go and tell someone to change their life. The artices states that eggs are formed in a female's ovary when she is still in the womb. Initially ovary contains several million eggs and after that there is a continuous decline. At the time of birth, this number is of several thousand, but when mensuration begins this number reduces upto 300,000. At the age of 37, woman has about 25,000 eggs and the time of menopause this number declines upto 1,000. The time at which menopause sets in is widely believed to be based on the number of eggs reaching a critically low threshold. The authors of this study measured ovarian volume with transvaginal ultrasound and then found a relationship between the volumes. He finds that as the women gets aged her ovaries shrink in size. They applied some mathematics to put on some predictions on menopause. Authors are discussing to set up a medical school. And the idea behind this is to follow women to judge the predictions whether they are indeed correct or not. These authors plan up a tool that potentially help women to plan their lives. But the second study in the same issue warn that women are not supposed to leave it too late. This article states that after the age of 35, there is a lack of natural fertility. To determine that the overall success rate of assisted reproductive technology would be 30 percent for those attempting to get pregnant from age 30, 24 percent for those trying from age 35, and 17 percent from age 40 authir used a computer simulation model. SOURCES: Tom Kelsey, Ph.D., senior research fellow, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland; Alan Copperman, M.D., director, reproductive medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York; June 17, 2004, Human Reproduction