Premature Ovarian Aging
Medically reviewed by Norbert Gleicher, MD, FACOG, FACS - Written by CHR Staff - Updated on Nov 15, 2014
Our POA Program
Diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) as a result of POA or as a result of advanced female age (women trying for pregnancy after age 40 fall into this category) represent major, often overlooked, cause of female infertility. It is overlooked both in terms of missed diagnosis and treatment refusals if diagnosis is made. In fact, most fertility centers routinely refuse treatment to women with significantly diminished ovarian reserve (DOR), unless they are willing to use donor eggs.
CHR's Medical Director, Dr. Gleicher, recognized this fact many years ago and since then CHR has been consciously developing special expertise in treating "older ovaries." Physicians and investigators at CHR have gained specialized clinical experience by treating patients affected by the "old ovaries" or "aging ovaries," but also from focusing the center's infertility research efforts to a large degree on diagnosis and diminished ovarian reserve treatment. This includes, of course, DOR due to premature ovarian aging.
This research has led to major breakthroughs that not only benefit CHR's patients, but women worldwide, as fertility specialists all over the world have started to incorporate CHR's revolutionary treatment approaches into their clinical practices. Nothing exemplifies this better than CHR's introduction of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) into infertility treatment. DHEA is now used worldwide, benefiting thousands of women every year who otherwise would have had no choice but to resort to egg donation.
Our research, experience and success transformed CHR into "The Center of Last Resort"
At CHR, we not only offered fertility treatment to women with severe DOR, but as our experience with "older ovaries" increased, we also progressively improved IVF pregnancy rates in patients. This progressive improvement of IVF pregnancy rates came against a backdrop of continuously increasing severity of our patients’ "ovarian age." This differentiated CHR from practically all other fertility centers in the world.
"Under Dr. Gleicher’s lead, CHR has been developing special expertise in treating 'older ovaries' for more than a decade."
As word of our success started getting around, CHR became New York City's "fertility center of last resort." Not long after, with the help of the Internet, CHR's reputation very quickly spread to the whole country and into Canada. Over the last 4-5 years, we've also witnessed explosive growth in overseas patients who are seeking out treatments that they simply cannot obtain in their own countries. In many ways, CHR has, thus, become the "world's fertility center of last resort," a designation we are very proud of! Today, nearly half of the center's new patients are long-distance patients, with about a quarter coming to us from overseas for our special expertise in treating women with severe DOR, whether it is due to advanced age or POA.
Norbert Gleicher, MD, FACOG, FACS
Norbert Gleicher, MD, leads CHR’s clinical and research efforts as Medical Director and Chief Scientist. A world-renowned specialist in reproductive endocrinology, Dr. Gleicher has published hundreds of peer-reviewed papers and lectured globally while keeping an active clinical career focused on ovarian aging, immunological issues and other difficult cases of infertility.