Intrauterine Insemination is considered to be the standard Artificial Insemination Procedure. Moreover, it is the basic step in most fertility treatments. IUI can be performed either by using the sperm of your husband or your male partner, or by using the sperm of a donor. There are two possible ways of conducting the IUI procedure. IUI may be performed either during the natural cycle of a woman or the ovulation will be induced.
In case of performing the IUI procedure during the woman’s natural cycle, her body will be monitored for the time of ovulation. The sperm sample is to be collected as soon as an LH surge is detected in woman.
In case when some medications are used in order to induce the ovulation process, a woman usually receives one of a couple of medications in order to encourage her body to ovulate. Clomid may be one of the medications, used by a woman in this case. It is necessary to take the medications according to the physician’s or the reproductive endocrinologist’s prescription. This doctor will also let the woman know how she can monitor for the ovulation to begin and when is she to apply to the clinic in order to appoint her intrauterine insemination procedure.
This procedure is recommended for the following categories of women:
For women, whose cervical mucus is unreceptive;
If a donor sperm is required;
For women, whose partners’ sperm count is extremely low;
When both partners suffer form an unexplained infertility.
The intrauterine insemination is considered to be a micromanipulation, which is usually performed without general anesthesia. It can also be conducted by a woman’s doctor (either by a gynecologist or by a reproductive endocrinologist) or even by a nurse practitioner.
Women, in whom the Artificial Insemination procedure fails (those, who have some specific kind of infertility), or women, older than 40 may become the potential candidates for more advanced reproductive technologies, such as In Vitro Fertilization.
However, some recently conducted investigations suggest, that IUI is quite a reasonable first option for most women, who are less than 43 years old. Moreover, it is somewhat less expensive and it poses less risk for the arrival of twins, triplets, or other higher order multiples than other more advanced Assisted Reproductive Technologies (IVF). And even if the IVF procedures are considered to be more effective per cycle, many people are still able to afford more IUI cycles, thus the pregnancy rates over time remain quite the same.
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