IUI or Intrauterine insemination is also called Artificial insemination.Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a procedure for treating infertility, its process by which sperm is deposited in a woman's uterus through artificial means.
IUI should not be used in women with blocked fallopian tubes.The procedure for intrauterine insemination is straightforward. Sperm that have been "washed" and concentrated are placed directly in your uterus on the day after your ovary releases one or more eggs to be fertilized. The hoped-for outcome of intrauterine insemination is for the sperm to swim into the fallopian tubes and fertilize a waiting egg, resulting in pregnancy.
The IUI procedure can be an effective treatment for some causes of infertility in women under about age 41. However, it is not effective for couples with:
- Tubal blockage or severe tubal damage
- Ovarian failure (menopause)
- Severe male factor infertility
- Advanced stages of endometriosis
- In women with low ovarian reserve
- With poor quality sperm
- In women with any degree of tubal damage or pelvic scarring
- In couples with a long duration of infertility (over 3 years)
IUI can be done with fertility medications. Women who do not ovulate regularly, can be monitored and placed on fertility medications, which stimulate the ovaries to produce eggs. This must be done with monitoring to make sure that the right number of eggs are matured. This can vary depending on the woman's age. For a younger woman, only one or two eggs will be matured, but for a woman in her late 30's or early 40's, more eggs will be stimulated to mature. By monitoring the number of eggs, we are able to keep the incidence of multiple births (twins, triplets, etc) to a minimum.
How is insemination performed ?
The first step of the IUI procedure is to keep track of the woman’s fertility cycle and plan the procedure for the exact time that she will be ovulating. The woman is also placed on fertility medication in an effort to help her produce multiple eggs. After abstaining from ejaculating for two to five days, the male provides a semen specimen, either at his home or at the clinic, on the morning of the procedure. The specimen undergoes sperm processing (also called "sperm washing"), a process in which the sperm cells are separated from the other material in the semen, yielding a more concentrated and effective sample.
A very thin, soft, and flexible catheter is used to transfer the concentrated sperm into the vagina, through the cervix, and into the uterus. As the sperm sample is concentrated and highly motile, the sperm stand a greater chance of successfully traveling to the fallopian tubes and fertilizing an egg. The entire IUI procedure takes about 45 minutes to an hour.
What you have to do ?
Generally inseminations are carried out either on the day before ovulation or on the day of ovulation. It is necessary to determine the exact timing of ovulation to maximize the chance of pregnancy from the treatment. Detection of ovulation can be done in a number of different ways. For the purposes of intra-uterine insemination we have to be quite precise with the timing. There are kits (Clearplan) available which are used to detect a rise in a certain hormone (luteinising hormone, LH) which occurs just prior to ovulation. This is the usual method of determining when to utilize insemination. Occasionally these kits are unreliable and thus, at least in the first treatment cycle, a blood test is performed to confirm that ovulation is about to occur. When menstrual cycles are very irregular, serial blood tests and pelvic ultrasounds (usually performed transvaginally) have to be used to accurately assess the time of ovulation. A fine catheter is attached to a syringe containing the concentrated sperm mix. A speculum is placed in the vagina and the catheter is introduced through the uterine cervix into the uterine cavity. The sperm is then squirted into the uterus. Usually you will have to wait 5 to 10 minutes before leaving the Fertility Centre after the insemination is performed.
