Why Term?

Obstetricians use the word “Term” (Latin for “on time”) to describe a nine-month pregnancy producing a fully developed newborn. A child born pre-term (premature) may have health issues. Recently, it was proposed that eggs can also be term or pre-term

Term is important

Unlike for a pregnancy, the term for eggs cannot be defined by an exact number of days, because it varies from 9 to 18 days. But it is well known that as the follicular phase becomes shorter, fewer eggs will be of good quality.  Even a four-day difference reduces egg quality by half!

Limitation of conventional IVF

The success of modern conventional IVF is mainly due to fertility drugs that make a woman produce multiple eggs instead of one. But these drugs also accelerate follicles growth, making the follicular phase shorter. 

Some patients are at particular disadvantage

This problem is particularly real for very young patients and patients with polycystic ovaries syndrome, because they tend to have a stronger response to fertility drugs.  Patients over 37 have a shorter follicular phase, because their ovarian cortex has less collagen and follicles may begin to rupture spontaneously at a smaller size (vanishing follicles).