New Technology – Getting Fertility Answers Faster

Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) know what a challenge it can be to get a formal diagnosis. Unfortunately, many of us have experienced it ourselves. Often, weight gain, acne, hirsutism, and irregularity are not taken seriously until that results in infertility, and many of us only get to this point years or even decades after our symptoms began.

One in eight couples will have trouble getting pregnant or carrying a baby to term, however many are left frustrated without a formal diagnosis to explain their challenges. While some causes are truly unknown, others go undiagnosed as there is not enough information available or the signs go undetected. This is particularly true in cases involving PCOS. Our cycle patterns rarely conform to the “norm.” Ovulation prediction kits and fertility monitors are often useless.

I have written about OvuSense before and how it can be a game-changer helping women with PCOS gain awareness of their cycles and get pregnant, but recently the company has developed a new technology to help women with conditions like PCOS make the most of their data, called OvuSense Pro. For years women have been using the information from OvuSense’s Core Body Temperature (CBT) monitoring technology to help them get pregnant, but now women and their doctors actually use the same data to identify otherwise undetectable causes of infertility, in the hopes of addressing and tailoring their care sooner.

Using data to find answers, rather than “wait and see”

For those who may not be familiar with OvuSense, it is the only FDA approved Class 2 fertility monitor designed to help understand the link between cycle characteristics of CBT curves and infertility. In recent research, presented at the 2019 American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) meeting, the OvuSense team assessed a range of “atypical cycle patterns” common in women with ovulatory conditions such as PCOS, within the OvuSense user base.

In a recent article, Fertility Focus CEO Rob Milnes explained how the new research aims to help women and their doctors uncover previously unidentified fertility issues without having to simply “wait and see” and struggle before getting a diagnosis. Knowing this information in advance may help doctors diagnose ovulatory issues and then monitor treatment, helping to remove some of the doubt around “unexplained” infertility, enable timely intervention or prevent recurrent miscarriages. 

“…a significant number of women with ovulatory issues never receive a satisfactory diagnosis. The ability of women over the age of 30 to conceive naturally within a year declines by around 5% per year, so with the demographic shift, it is now essential to find out if there is an ovulatory issue as soon as possible.”

No Such Thing as Typical PCOS Cycle

Essentially what the OvuSense study found — and what many women with PCOS already know— is that there is no such thing as a typical cycle pattern. However, when you look at the data and experiences of thousands of women, there are some patterns that while often go unrecognized can be indicative of certain conditions that greatly impact our fertility.

Using Technology to Identify 3 New Cycle Patterns

One of those patterns called ‘‘Crash to Baseline’’ suggests high progesterone early in the cycle. Another, called ‘‘False Start’’ suggests an initial surge in luteinizing hormone with an accompanying small progesterone rise. Both of these abnormal temperature patterns would be expected to occur in women with PCOS, and the study investigators do indeed plan to test this hypothesis. ‘‘Crash After Ovulation” suggests that progesterone may fall sharply in some women before the onset of their period, and it is possible that fertility may be impaired in these cycles.

What OvuSense hopes this research and the release of OvuSense Pro boils down to, is that they want to help women before they have problems conceiving — to not only help them start their families when they choose, but also provide valuable information about their health.

Work with your doctor – at home

Particularly if you’ve had trouble trying to get pregnant or even fighting to get diagnosed for PCOS, working with a doctor is an important part of your journey. However, this isn’t always a 24/7 line of information. By using tools like OvuSense at home, you can begin to recognize patterns in your cycle in between appointments, making your in-person visits with your physician more productive since you’re armed with more information about your cycle.

The new platform allows an OvuSense user and their doctor to access detailed cycle information through an online portal. It provides unique key analysis about cycle patterns to help medical professionals to know whether they need to carry out further tests, what effect medications are having, to time tests like blood progesterone and ultrasound, to understand what’s happening during treatment, and to understand whether medications, treatment or dietary change are having an effect on the timing of ovulation and the length of cycles.

Some of these cycle patterns include those that were presented at ASRM last year, but it has also expanded to indicate early ovulation, late ovulation, anovulation, short luteal phase, and more. By easily pinpointing these cycle characteristics within your cycle, you and your physician can more quickly identify which hormones may be out of balance or identify changes or supplements that can support different elements of your fertility.