Polycystic

Polycystic ovary syndrome is the most common endocrine disorder in women from young adulthood to early middle age.

Anthony Atala is director of the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Atala says polycystic ovary disease is also commonly seen in older, pre-menopausal women.

Many women are unable to conceive because of a condition known as polycystic ovary syndrome, in which the ovaries fail to secrete enough hormones to stimulate egg production. Injury to the ovaries caused by radiation or surgery also can interfere with a woman’s ability to produce enough viable eggs, or oocytes, to achieve pregnancy.