Take A Look At The IUI Treatment And Its Success Rate
What Is IUI Treatment?
Intrauterine insemination (IUI)
is a relatively simple fertility process of putting male sperms into the
woman’s uterus. This treatment is non-invasive as compared to other costly
treatments such as In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF).
When It Is Used?
IUI is a unique way to treat different types of infertility which are done in multiple processes to achieve the pregnancy. It is basically the first process tried before going to other invasive options like In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Many insurance companies always ask and prefer to go with the IUI cycles before moving to IVF.
IUI is recommended in the
following situations:
- During
intercourse sexual pain increases;
- Male
infertility;
- Hostile
cervical mucus;
- Unexplained
infertility;
- Unsuccessful
treatment with fertility drugs;
- The
sperm donor is being used already;
How Does IUI Work?
The IUI process begins with the beginning of your menses which ends when you take a blood pregnancy test. In this process, for a couple of days, a blood test of your menses will be done to confirm whether you are pregnant or not. For this, doctors may perform a transvaginal ultrasound to check your uterine lining and your ovarian follicles to verify your pregnancy. Before ovulation, your doctors may perform further ultrasounds to make sure that the uterine lining is thickening, as well as the follicles, are growing appropriately.
Ovulation will begin as soon as a mature egg or oocyte measures over twenty millimeters on ultrasound. During this period, your doctor will ask you to require a gonadotrophin trigger shot to induce ovulation for approx. 36 hours and after that, he will schedule the IUI. Or, your doctor will inform you to continue checking the level of gonadotropin (for 24 to 48 hours) in a urine test. If the results show that your LH levels have peaked, your doctors will perform the IUI on the very next day.
The sperm donor is required to reach the clinic to donate a sample on the day when the IUI will happen. The sperm will be inseminated for further preparation. During this preparation, the sample will be washed to remove unwanted substances such as non-motile sperm, white blood cells, and prostaglandins. If frozen donor sperms are being used, the doctors will liquefy them before the IUI.
In IUI treatment, a speculum, a thread, a thin tube is put in into the vagina through cervix in order to add sperms into the womb. This process will take around 5 minutes. You may feel lightheaded or dizzy, so your doctor will instruct you to lie down for 10 minutes. After a week, your progestogen levels with a blood test will be checked by the fertility clinics to confirm if you have ovulated around the time of the procedure or not.
After two weeks, you are
required to take a blood test to confirm whether you are pregnant or not. This
period is considered the toughest part of the IUI process. This is required to
find out the symptoms you may encounter.
Success Rates Of IUI - As mentioned above, IUI is noninvasive and cheap as compared to I.V.F., therefore, it is less effective. There are about 20-to-25-percent chances that women with unexplained infertility will become pregnant for a few cycles. Women under 35 years of age have 50 % IUI success rates across 3 to 6 cycles if they are not getting periods. Women over 35-40 have the possibility of becoming pregnant but that will be relatively lower than the women under 20-30.
To Conclude - Intrauterine insemination is a relatively low-cost as well as low-risk treatment and yet it is considered an excellent way for numerous couples who are trying to conceive. If you are facing any difficulty conceiving or have had such an experience, you must approach your fertility doctor. The doctor will help you take the best course in order to achieve pregnancy through IUI Treatment.
