What is the success rate of intrauterine insemination?

This is an automatically translated article.

1. Should sperm be injected into the uterus or not?

Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is an effective support method for infertile couples who want to have children, due to ovulatory disorders, endometriosis. uterus, sperm health is weak or the cause has not been found...
The condition to perform the technique of sperm injection into the uterus is that the wife must have at least one of the two open and unobstructed fallopian tubes. . Many couples wonder whether to pump sperm into the uterus or not? This is a method with high safety and low treatment cost.
Intrauterine insemination technique is a reasonable choice to increase the success rate of conception in couples with primary or secondary infertility. However, not all cases can apply this technique.
Some cases may indicate the technique of sperm injection into the uterus including:
Infertility caused by the wife or husband or by both, but through examination of 1 of the 2 fallopian tubes in the wife is still functioning well, has a normal menstrual cycle and is ovulating; Sperm quality in the husband may be slightly reduced, the quantity is small; There are no anti-sperm antibodies in the body. The technique of injecting sperm into the uterus will be difficult to perform successfully if the husband's sperm quality is too weak and does not reach the allowable level; Infertility due to cervical abnormalities in the wife; Infertile couples are infertile for a long time but have not found the cause; The wife's pelvis is slightly sticky. Some cases cannot apply sperm injection technique into the uterus:
Women over 44 years old; Sperm quality is too low, no sperm or more than 40% malformed sperm;

2. The process of performing the sperm injection technique into the uterus

The technique of intrauterine insemination (IUI) goes through several stages: stimulating the ovaries to ovulate in the wife, washing and selecting the husband's sperm, and finally injecting sperm into the uterus.
2.1. Ovarian stimulation In regular menstrual cycles, the wife goes to reputable medical facilities for ultrasound on the 2nd day of the menstrual cycle to monitor the condition of the follicles. When the follicles mature, the woman is given an injection of an ovulation-stimulating drug (HCG).
However, in some cases, the ovaries are over-stimulated by drugs that stimulate ovulation. At that time, the wife will experience swelling of the ovaries, increasing in size many times compared to normal.
If this is the case, you should be hospitalized for monitoring and consider canceling the intrauterine insemination technique if the symptoms are too severe.
2.2. Sperm selection and washing After injecting HCG ovulation stimulant about 24-48 hours, the doctor will proceed to inject sperm into the uterus. Before pumping, the husband needs to ejaculate into a sterile bottle and bring it to a reputable male laboratory within 30 minutes.
At that time, the process of sperm selection and washing will take place to remove semen, filter out weak or dead sperm, select motile and healthy sperm to perform the sperm injection technique. intrauterine IUI.
The sperm selection and washing process can be repeated 2-3 times to end up taking only about 0.5cc for IUI.
2.3. Intrauterine insemination After careful selection and filtration, these sperm can live for about 24-72 hours. The best time for sperm to penetrate the ovum to conceive is 6-12 hours. However, after 24 hours, the quality of sperm has started to decline.
After washing, the doctor will use a small catheter to bring this amount of sperm through the cervix, pumped into the uterine cavity at the position closest to the fallopian tubes. The basic principle of intrauterine insemination is to increase the number of motile sperms reaching the distal fallopian tubes, where the egg and sperm meet and can become fertilized.
Time to perform the technique of sperm injection into the uterus is about 3-5 minutes and does not cause pain for the patient. In rare cases, vaginal bleeding is caused by mild damage to the uterus during sperm injection.
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is usually done 2 times 24 and 48 hours after HCG injection, or only once at 34-40 hours after HCG injection. To check the results, the couple should take a pregnancy test 14 days after performing this technique.

3. How much is the success rate of intrauterine insemination?

The technique of intrauterine insemination, the success rate of how much depends entirely on the quality of the sperm and the egg (ovum). As long as the husband's sperm health is guaranteed, with a natural cycle (without using drugs to stimulate follicles), the success rate is as low as 6%.
When the wife is injected with HCG follicle stimulating drug, the success rate increases very high, can reach about 26%. However, the use of HCG can lead to multiple pregnancies because many mature follicles are successfully conceived.
Another factor that affects the success rate of intrauterine insemination is age.
A study in the UK with the results that if the wife is under 35 years old, then IUI is successful at 16%. This rate drops to 11% if 35-39 years old, 5% when women are 40-42 years old, 1% if 43-44 years old, and unsuccessful if women are over 44 years old.
The general health of the couple also affects IUI results. Some couples are lucky to conceive successfully the first time, but there are still couples who have to do it many times and still fail.

4. Notes when performing the sperm injection technique into the uterus

Some issues to keep in mind when performing the sperm injection technique into the uterus:
The husband can take the sperm count at the hospital or at home. The most important factor is bringing that amount of sperm to the hospital within 30 - 45 minutes is satisfactory. Therefore, according to the best recommendation, the husband should collect sperm at the hospital. In order to increase the success rate of the insemination of sperm into the uterus, the wife should lie down for a short period of time after the injection. In theory, a minimum break of 15 minutes is enough, but it is best for the wife to lie down for about 2-3 hours with the buttocks elevated on a dedicated bed. After IUI, the couple do not have sex for at least 3-5 days. Diet with enough water, fruit juices and foods rich in zinc, iron, and folic acid. Mental comfort, relaxation, avoid self-pressure. Keeping the spirit of relaxation will help inject sperm into the uterus with a higher success rate. One issue that few people care about is that after IUI is done, do not go swimming within 48 hours after pumping. Follow up with your doctor's appointment or whenever there are abnormal signs.. After 14 days of IUI, the couple should take a pregnancy test by different methods to confirm pregnancy or not. If conception does not occur, re-implantation should be performed. However, do not perform IUI immediately, but have to wait after 3 menstrual cycles. If you try 3 times without success, you need to choose another method of conception. Currently, Vinmec is implementing most of the advanced assisted reproductive techniques in the world such as: filtering and injecting sperm into the uterus, injecting sperm into the oocyte cytoplasm, reproductive reserve, and embryo support. The success rate is quite high, bringing joy of parenthood to many long-term infertile couples.
With a high level of expertise and extensive experience, Vinmec IVF Center's experts are capable of synchronously and comprehensively deploying the most advanced assisted reproductive techniques today, helping realize the dream of becoming a parent of hundreds of families across Vietnam.

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