Treatments
Description of available treatments
Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) Treatment
Intrauterine Insemination is the placing of washed sperm into a woman’s uterus.
We place washed sperm near to the top of the uterine cavity, using a fine tube (catheter) passed through the cervix. Here, sperm are near the uterine entrance of each Fallopian tube and so have a shorter distance to swim to reach the eggs. The procedure is usually performed without the need for anaesthesia.
We find it helpful to stimulate the development of more eggs than usual using tablets (ovulation induction) with or without a course of injections of follicle stimulating hormone. This treatment should result in the release of more than one egg in your treatment cycle. We believe this gives the best results. If you have multiple follicles there might be an increased chance of multiple pregnancy, therefore careful monitoring is important.
We monitor growth of ovarian follicular development using regular ultrasound scans, which usually commence on the ninth day from the start of your period.
We routinely perform 1 insemination per cycle of treatment.
Should your partner have poor quality sperm in order to optimize the chances for success, you may wish to use donor sperm. This is discussed in our separate information leaflet.
IUI in the natural cycle
We can perform IUI in a natural cycle, meaning no medication is used to stimulate the ovaries, reducing the risk of multiple pregnancies.
IUI with mild ovarian stimulation
We can also stimulate egg development artificially by the administration of Letrozole tablets and a course of injections of Puregon. Such treatment may result in the release of more than one egg in a given treatment cycle. This will improve your chances, but carries a risk of multiple pregnancies if more than one egg gets released.