IUI Treatment Centre in Chennai
Artificial Insemination with partner or donor sperm
Every Infertility patient does not require expensive invasive procedures like IVF or ICSI. More so, if the woman is young with normal ovulation and the partner’s semen analysis shows no abnormality, Artificial insemination is very often the most economical and painless way to conceive apart from Natural sex conception. In cases, where woman shows absolute normal ovulation and the semen of the male is beyond any treatment, Donor Sperm with IUI can give good results. Intrauterine insemination is a treatment where sperm (partner or donor) is placed directly into the woman’s uterus during ovulation. This “head start” increases the odds that more sperm reaches the fallopian tubes than would have through sex. The sperm will still have to reach the egg and fertilize it on its own.
At PSFC, we have plenty of successful pregnancies from IUI treatment alone. When medically appropriate, we recommend patients try a few rounds of IUI before moving to IVF.
When is artificial insemination recommended?
Which previous tests are necessary?
The recommended tests for performing artificial insemination are:
Hormone test to examine the ovarian reserve. The Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) value can be determined at any time during the cycle, and the FSH and Estradiol value on day 3 of the cycle.
Semen analysis with motile sperm recovery (MSR) test to evaluate whether the partner’s sample is of sufficient quality to perform an insemination.
Gynaecological ultrasound to rule out uterine and ovarian diseases. It is also used to evaluate the ovarian reserve by antral follicle count.
Hysterosalpingography to evaluate tubal permeability. It consists of a contrast injection into the uterine neck while x-rays are being performed.
Serologies to rule out the presence of transmissible infectious diseases.
The Artificial Insemination (IUI) procedure
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) — a type of artificial insemination — is a procedure for treating infertility. Sperm that have been washed and concentrated are placed directly in your uterus around the time your ovary releases one or more eggs to be fertilized.
Partner Sperm insemination
Fresh partner sperm is preferred in cases where mild to moderate sperm problems exist. Frozen partner sperm is preferred when the male partner is travelling frequently or unable to produce good quality sperm on the day of insemination. It is a practice to keep a sample of frozen sperm for such an eventuality.
On the day of the insemination, the male partner collects a semen sample and gives it to our laboratory or it is taken from the Partner’s frozen sperm in stock. This sample is prepared to obtain the sperm with the best fertilising capacity, which will be used for insemination.
Donor Sperm insemination
Donor sperm is preferred when the Partner has severe semen issue that is not treatable. It is also used for Single women pregnancy or in LGBTQ pregnancy. The sample will be provided by our sperm bank. In order to select the right donor, since it must be anonymous, the physical characteristics of the patients are taken into account. Donors go through a strict selection process and are examined to check that they do not have any diseases that could affect the future pregnancy. The personal and family history is collected, an assessment by our psychologist is performed and analyses that include general analyses and tests to rule out infectious diseases such as hepatitis, HIV and syphilis, and genetic studies such as karyotype and other tests are carried out in order to rule out major genetic diseases.
Sperm collection and preparation
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) — a type of artificial insemination — is a procedure for treating infertility. Sperm that have been washed and concentrated are placed directly in your uterus around the time your ovary releases one or more eggs to be fertilized.
On the day of insemination, the sperm sample will be prepared in the laboratory by sperm capacitation process. This processing results in a much cleaner and more concentrated sample with most of the non-motile sperm and other fluids removed.
1. Ovulation cycle:
The woman is monitored simultaneously for her ovulation cycle
2. Natural Cycle:
If the patient does not have any issue related to her ovaries and her periods are regular and ovulation works perfectly, this technique can be tried. No medication is applied. The follicle is a small cyst that women produce every month. Inside the follicle the egg is developed. They will be controlled by ultrasound scans until you can see that the patient is about to ovulate. There is medicine applied to trigger the ovulation. The insemination is performed in the moment we know ovulation is occurring. The advantage of this method is that there is no need to apply any medication and a multiple pregnancy can be avoided. However, the chances of success are much lower, so it is mainly recommended for very young patients, with a very good prognosis.
3. Stimulated cycle
This is the most used procedure because of its good results. It consists of applying medication to ensure that at least one follicle is produced, although, if possible, there can be two or three. This improves the probability of success without almost raising the risk of a multiple pregnancy. With these premises, the risk of having twins is 8%. Most treatments are performed with the help of medications such as Clomid or letrozole, and/or injectable gonadotropins. The medication is applied daily by subcutaneous injections that do not hurt at all. Also, with the help of short instructions from our nurses on the first day, the patient can inject them herself. The treatment usually lasts 7-9 days. The same as in the natural cycle, ultrasounds are performed every two to three days to monitor the development of the follicles. Once you can see that they are about to ovulate, a medicine to trigger ovulation is given. Then, the insemination is carried out when ovulating
The IUI Procedure
Once the sperm is ready and the woman is about to ovulate, we can inject the sperm into the woman’s uterus in a simple 5-minute procedure. We perform a speculum exam, use a fine catheter to inject the sperm into the inside of the uterus, then remove the speculum and let the woman lay down for 10-15 minutes while the sperms are moving to the fallopian tubes. For most women, the procedure is painless.
IUI increases the number of sperms reaching the fallopian tubes
Risks of IUIs treatment
If you are taking fertility medications during your IUI cycle, then there is an increased chance of multiples. There is also a small risk of infection. Your physician at PSFC will discuss these risk and the counter-measures in detail with you before Artificial Insemination treatment starts.
Success rate of IUI
Success depends on many factors and will vary depending on the patient. Success rates for Artificial Insemination can reach as high as 20% for some women. For this reason, we typically recommend planning on going through several rounds of treatment. Your physician will be better able to discuss your potential success rates with IUI.
Number of attempts
As with natural cycles, inseminations can be repeated in each cycle. It is not necessary to have one month off to increase success rates.
The success rates for inseminations remain stable during the three first attempts. If no pregnancy is achieved after 3 inseminations, we recommend trying a different and more effective treatment.
Care after artificial insemination
It is recommended to take progesterone supplements for a few days after insemination, to encourage embryo implantation. During treatment, the woman will not notice any significant difference to her natural cycle. Therefore, it is recommended to lead as normal a lifestyle as possible. It is recommended to take a urine pregnancy test two weeks after insemination
Why choose IUI treatment at PSFC?
First, we will do a thorough Semen Analysis at our Andrology Lab to measure your sperm numbers and quality accurately before you start treatment, and with every artificial insemination attempt. This allows us to identify couples where the sperm count is not ideal for IUI treatments.
Further, we monitor the ovulation of the woman with added medication if necessary and prepare her for the best results.
