So, they're all sitting pretty close together in the pelvis and usually can find their way. Host: In a rare complication of pregnancy, Dr Wilson says that eggs can become fertilised outside of the fallopian tubes or uterus, which can lead to an ectopic pregnancy.
Dr Wilson: So, if an egg doesn't make it into a tube, most of the time it just won't get fertilised. But occasionally it does get fertilised, and it still doesn't make its way down into the womb. And that's when something called an ectopic pregnancy can develop. Those ectopic pregnancies can be stuck in the tubes themselves, and rarely they can actually be inside the abdomen if they've never made it into the tube, and they can cause what we call an abdominal ectopic pregnancy.
Unfortunately, that is a serious complication of early pregnancy, and normally requires treatment to help stop that pregnancy from growing because a pregnancy developing in the wrong spot can be very dangerous for the mum, in terms of, it can cause quite serious bleeding, or damage to the organs.
And normally they don't continue to develop, because that's not a place that is going to support a growing baby. Host: As the average age of first-time mums rises, many women worry that their chances of conceiving will drastically lessen as they get older. But, while fertility does start to decline with age , Dr Wilson says that age is just one factor when it comes to a woman's fertility. Dr Wilson: So, things that are important for women to be aware of for their fertility is that it does start to decline in your 30s.
There's not a single age where it's likely that you'll be less fertile than the day before, or it changes really dramatically. But certainly, women need to be aware if they're planning to have babies that after the age of 35, towards 40, fertility does start to decline quite significantly.
And the decline is very rapid after the age of about So, women who are planning on having kids need to keep that in mind. And there's lots of other things that affect fertility as well, not just your age, so also your health, and whether or not you're a smoker , so there's other things to be aware of.
Host: When a woman comes to the clinic because she's trying to conceive, there are lots of factors Dr Wilson needs to consider. Dr Wilson: Yeah so, there's lots of fertility issues that women might come and see us for, it might just be that they've been trying to conceive for a little while and it hasn't happened yet. And that could be within the realm of normal. So, a young woman could take 6 to 12 months to fall pregnant, even if they were really healthy and functioning normally.
Other women do have reduced fertility, whether that's from age, some genetic problems, and sometimes there's other factors, like sperm issues, or the egg itself isn't making it into the womb to get fertilised. So sometimes people have blocked tubes because they've had infections in the past or the womb is not providing a healthy environment for the developing egg and sperm to make a baby.
So, there can be a range of causes. Host: For women who are pregnant, the ovaries continue to play an important role in the process for weeks after the egg is released.
Dr Wilson: So, the really important of function of the ovaries in the early part of the pregnancy, is that sac that the egg got released from, the egg that turned into a baby, that little sac actually plays a really important role in releasing the hormones that support the pregnancy in the early developing stages. So that's called the corpus luteum, and its job is to support the pregnancy's early development until the baby's placenta gets big enough to take over that role of supporting the developing baby.
Host: Around the age of 50, a woman's body, including her ovaries, is ready to go through another change called menopause. Gradually, her ovaries will stop releasing eggs every month and will release lower levels of the hormones that triggered her monthly cycle. Dr Wilson: As you get to the age of menopause, you've still got eggs remaining, it's just that they're not working as well.
And so, the egg quality is reduced and also their number is reduced. And when your body is trying to go through the monthly cycle, they're just not developing and releasing the hormones that they would have at a younger age. Host: Just like puberty, fertility and menstrual cycles, every woman will experience menopause differently. Some find the process quite gentle, while others can experience some serious symptoms. Dr Wilson: So, women will start to have the symptoms of menopause, and that might be less frequent periods or irregular periods, or things like hot flushes or feeling quite sweaty particularly at night.
Or, like we said before, mood disturbance. So, they can be symptoms that the menopause is sort of happening. So, menopause is defined as 12 months of not having a period.
So, after 12 months we can retrospectively say that if you haven't had a period in 12 months around that age, without another cause, then that's probably that you've gone through menopause.
Host: It makes sense to assume that once a woman has stopped menstruating, her ovaries don't play an ongoing role in her health. But the ovaries don't shut up shop and head off on vacation after menopause; Dr Wilson says that even though a woman's menstrual cycle has stopped, her ovaries still have work to do.
So, they're still doing a job, it's just a different job. Vox pop: What should you look out for in terms of keeping your ovaries healthy? And when should you see a doctor if you're concerned, about something? Host: Is there anything women should be doing keep their ovaries healthy? How would a woman know if her ovaries aren't working as they should be? Dr Wilson shared with us information about the common ovarian conditions she treats and her advice for keeping your ovaries healthy.
Dr Wilson: The main things that we see with ovaries themselves is ovarian cysts , so they're quite common. Women might come in with a whole range of ovarian cysts causing them bother. Most of the time they're benign, or not cancerous, but can cause problems with pain or bleeding from the ovary. So often we have to do keyhole surgery to remove cysts from women's ovaries.
Host: A condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome can see women develop many cysts on their ovaries, along with other symptoms that can affect different parts of the body. Dr Wilson: So, polycystic ovarian syndrome is pretty complicated.
It's a condition that affects really a lot of parts of the body, not just the ovaries themselves. It's named after the ovaries because they get lots of cysts on them, but really that's because they're not functioning normally, so they're not releasing eggs normally. Which means that some of those sacs where the eggs come from, are not developing normally, so they're hanging around.
And when they hang around and you do an ultrasound, you can see lots of little sacs on the ovaries, which is why it's called polycystic. The condition, though, causes a whole range of issues for women, anything from irregular bleeding or irregular menstrual cycles, reduced fertility, but also difficulties with some of our other organ systems or metabolism.
So, women might find that they have a propensity to developing issues with blood pressure or diabetes and might have difficulties with abnormal hair growth or acne. So, it's a condition that affects many parts of the body, not just the ovaries themselves. But it's certainly probably the most commonly recognised feature.
We've included a link to a resource about polycystic ovarian syndrome in our show notes, so if you think you or a woman you know might have some of the symptoms, you can read more about it there. When this happens, it is called a anovulatory cycle. Most ovarian problems are caused by cysts. Ovarian cysts, growths on the ovaries, are common and most women will get them at least once, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Most women don't even know when they have one because typically they are not painful or anything to worry about. Polycystic ovary syndrome PCOS is an ailment defined by multiple cysts growing on the outer edge of the ovaries due to a lack of hormones that allow an egg to be released from the follicle. This disorder can lead to infertility and other serious complications such as heart disease, diabetes or stroke.
Sometimes a cyst will become cancerous. One in 75 women will develop ovarian cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. There are current tests that can help detect a woman's likelihood of developing ovarian cancer. In some cases, women choose to remove their ovaries as a precautionary measure. Live Science. Alina Bradford. Global Cancer Research. Cancer Research Infrastructure.
Clinical Trials. Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research. Bioinformatics, Big Data, and Cancer. Annual Report to the Nation. Research Advances by Cancer Type. Stories of Discovery. Milestones in Cancer Research and Discovery. Biomedical Citizen Science. Director's Message. Budget Proposal. Stories of Cancer Research. Driving Discovery. Highlighted Scientific Opportunities. Research Grants. Research Funding Opportunities. Cancer Grand Challenges. Research Program Contacts.
Funding Strategy. Grants Policies and Process. Introduction to Grants Process. NCI Grant Policies. Legal Requirements. Step 3: Peer Review and Funding Outcomes. Manage Your Award. Grants Management Contacts.
Prior Approvals. Annual Reporting and Auditing. Transfer of a Grant. Grant Closeout. Cancer Training at NCI. At the start of the menstrual cycle, both estrogen and progesterone levels are low. This signals the pituitary gland to make follicle stimulating hormone FSH. When FSH levels increase, around follicles begin to grow and their eggs start to mature. The follicles produce estrogen, which start to prepare the uterus womb for pregnancy.
The rising estrogen levels signal the pituitary gland to release luteinising hormone LH , which in turn, signal the ovaries to produce more and more estrogen. This forms a positive feedback loop. This sharp increase in LH causes a mature egg to be released from the ovarian follicle. Only one egg generally reaches maturity and is released at about midway through the menstrual cycle.
This is called ovulation. When the egg is released, the positive feedback loop ends, and estrogen and LH levels fall. After the egg is released, the remains of the ovarian follicle form a structure called the corpus luteum.
This structure releases progesterone and estrogen to continue preparing the uterus womb for pregnancy.
0コメント