Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Treatment
Assessing Fertility Issue Root Causes
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a hormonal disorder that is characterized by symptoms like irregular periods, elevated androgen levels, and small cysts on the ovaries. PCOS can impact a woman’s ability to carry a successful pregnancy.
Initial hormonal testing and ultrasounds are conducted to diagnose whether PCOS is the underlying cause of fertility issues.
How & Why We Manage PCOS
After our team's assessment, lifestyle adjustments focusing on nutrition and insulin sensitivity may be advised. Following this, medications or hormonal therapies may be prescribed to regulate menstrual cycles, control androgen levels, and manage specific PCOS symptoms.
Managing PCOS symptoms is crucial for controlling the disorder and increasing the likelihood of pregnancy. Following symptom management, ovulation induction medication, along with assisted reproductive techniques like intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) may be recommended to further enhance the chances of conception.
Criteria for Diagnosis
(requires satisfaction of two out of three criteria)
1) Polycystic appearing ovaries on ultrasound. The cysts mentioned are follicular cyst or follicles which hold eggs. They often have a distinct appearance defined as a “string of pearls”
2) Irregular ovulation or anovulation – This can be discerned by evaluating menstrual cycle intervals from day one of menses of one cycle to day of of menses of the following cycle as well as evaluating what day each cycle ovulation occurs, if at all. This can also be evaluated hormonally with bloodwork.
3) Elevated androgens (male hormones) – Elevated androgens can be evaluated with bloodwork such as testosterone and DEHA-S. They also can present clinical symptoms such as hormonal acne and hirsutism.
Treatment of PCOS
Once diagnosis is made, PCOS can be controlled with medications to decrease androgens, control insulin resistance associated with the condition, and often ovulation induction medications can be used in conjunction to assist with the growth of follicles or eggs. Well controlled PCOS helps to achieve regular ovulation and higher quality ovulation to move towards a successful pregnancy.
