Intrauterine insemination (IUI)
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) involves placing sperm directly into your uterine cavity through a catheter to shorten the distance for sperm to swim to reach the egg.
This treatment method is particularly suitable for couples who have:
- Women with normal uterine cavity and fallopian tubes
- Low sperm count or low sperm motility
- Incompatibility between sperm and the cervical mucus
- Problems with sexual intercourse such as impotence, premature ejaculation or other medical conditions
Procedure
Like the procedure of OI, woman will take clomiphene or gonadotropins to increase the number of egg development. Your doctor will monitor you closely in order to prevent too many eggs being stimulated. A semen sample will be collected from your partner about an hour or two before you are scheduled for insemination.
The semen is “washed” to separate the sperm from the seminal fluid, which contains substances that can irritate your uterus.
Your doctor will inject the “washed” sperm directly into your uterus near the uterine entrance of fallopian tube at the time of ovulation. A speculum will be placed inside your vagina and a small catheter will be inserted through your cervix into your uterine cavity when the sperm will be injected through the catheter into your uterus. This procedure will not cause any discomfort and does not require any anaesthetics.
This procedure, also known as artificial insemination only takes a few minutes to complete. It usually takes about 2 weeks after the procedure before you can find out whether the treatment has been successful. This will involve a simple blood test to confirm whether or not you are pregnant.
Preparation for IUI
It is advised that you should abstain from sex for 2 or 3 days before the procedure. In order to maximise your chance of pregnancy, you doctor may prescribe you with medications to induce ovulation if you are not ovulating regularly.
Advantages of using IUI
By placing sperm artificially near to the site of fertilisation, IUI bypasses many problems that can occur in the vagina or cervix. It also improves delivery of the sperm to the egg, especially when there is a low sperm count or inactive sperm. Other benefits include:
- Minimally invasive
- Less emotional commitment
- Less time-consuming Disadvantages of using IUI when compared to other assisted reproductive technologies
- Fertilisation cannot be confirmed
- Risk of multiple pregnancy
- Fallopian tubes must be unobstructed
Can I go through this procedure more than once?
Yes, if you do not become pregnant after the first treatment, you can repeat the procedure again in your next few cycles. Obviously, further evaluation may be required if the treatment fails to show an effect after several attempts.
