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{In no situation do we ever recommend that fertility diagnosis or treatment be undertaken without the oversight of a qualified medical practitioner. Please use the enclosed information as quick reference and for discussion aids with your practitioner.}

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

More typical 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
• 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

• 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.