What is the best treatment option for infertile women aged 40 and over?

PurposeTo summarise the causes of decreased fecundity with age and review chronological vs biological ovarian ageing. To explore the clinician's means of assessing a woman's ovarian reserve. To review the recent literature on the effectiveness of different assisted reproductive technology (ART) techniques for women aged 40 and over and offer a single best treatment option.MethodsPubmed and google scholar were searched for relevant articles using key words. Data were extracted based on authors, year, aims, sample and results.ResultsSuccess rates for women aged 40 or over with clomiphene, IUI, IUI with FSH are all extremely low, at less than 1% live birth per cycle. However, IVF offers a success rate of around 13.7% per cycle.ConclusionAn exploration of the effectiveness of available treatment options for older infertile women using their own gametes suggests that IVF offers the best prospects of success. Attempting treatments other than IVF will delay conception unnecessarily.