IUI (Intrauterine Insemination)

What is IUI (Intrauterine Insemination)?

The artificial insemination technique known as intrauterine insemination (IUI) is used to treat infertility. When your ovary releases one or more eggs for fertilization, concentrated and cleaned sperm are immediately injected into your uterus. The intended result of intrauterine insemination is for the sperm to travel into the fallopian tube, fertilize an egg that is already mature, and stimulate pregnancy.

Depending on the underlying causes of infertility, IUI can be timed to coincide with your regular cycle or with fertility drugs.

Why Is IUI Done?

The likelihood of conception for a couple depends on a variety of variables. Most couples that use intrauterine insemination have:

• Moderate male factor infertility (subfertility): One of the initial steps in the medical evaluation of infertility is the investigation of your partner’s semen, which may reveal abnormalities in sperm size and shape, weak sperm motility, or below-average sperm concentration (morphology). Because IUI helps distinguish highly motile, healthy sperm from those of poorer quality, it can help with some of these issues.
• Unexplained infertility: IUI is frequently used in conjunction with ovulation-inducing medications as the initial treatment for infertility that cannot be explained.
• Endometriosis-related infertility: The initial line of treatment for endometriosis-related infertility frequently involves taking prescribed medications to produce high-quality eggs and doing IUI.
• Cervical factor utility: The gap between your vagina and uterus is created by your cervix, which is located at the bottom of the uterus. The cervix’s production of mucus around the time of ovulation creates the perfect environment for sperm to migrate from your vagina to the fallopian tubes. However, if your cervical mucus is too thick, it can prevent the sperm from traveling. Sperm may not be able to reach the egg if the thick cervical mucus is present. The cervix may thicken because of scarring, such as that from a biopsy or other treatments. By bypassing your cervix, IUI deposits sperm directly into your uterus, boosting the amount of sperm accessible to meet the waiting egg.
• Infertility due to ovulatory factors: IUI is also an option for women whose infertility is caused due to ovulation-related issues, such as irregular ovulation or fewer eggs.
• Semen allergies: Infrequently, infertility occurs due to an allergy to semen proteins. When the semen meets the skin after ejaculation entering the vagina, there could be redness, burning, and swelling. You can avoid the symptoms by using a condom, which also prevents pregnancy. Since many of the proteins in semen are eliminated before the sperm is injected, IUI can be helpful if your sensitivity is severe.
• Donor Sperm: IUI is the most popular method for women who need to use donated sperm to conceive to become pregnant. Before the IUI procedure, frozen donor sperm samples are received from accredited labs and thawed.

Result :

• False-negative: The test result may be negative even though you are pregnant if pregnancy hormones have not yet reached detectable levels.
• False-positive: If you’re taking an ovulation-inducing drug like HCG, the drug that is left in your system could signal pregnancy even if you aren’t pregnant.

Your doctor could advise you to go back for a blood test, which is more sensitive in identifying pregnancy hormones after fertilization, about two weeks after the results of your home kit.

Before pursuing other fertility treatments, you might give IUI another shot if you are unable to get pregnant. To increase the likelihood of conception, the same therapy is frequently administered for three to six months.

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