How To Make IUI A Success

Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a delicate, many-step procedure that involves a great deal of coordination between doctor and patient to ensure that things go just as they should. Careful monitoring of the patient must be done so as to pinpoint with as much precision as possible when ovulation will occur. The process of monitoring for signs of ovulation is done in one of two ways.

Transvaginal Ultrasound

Some doctors prefer to keep an eye on your ovulation status with a transvaginal ultrasound. This type of ultrasound gives the doctor the nearest thing to a direct look at your ovaries and eggs. Other doctors find it sufficient to allow the patient to do the monitoring of the ovulation process at home, with the help of kits that can predict ovulation through the analysis of your urine.

LH Surge

Just before you ovulate, your body releases a substance known as luteinizing hormone (LH). If you ovulate without benefit of treatment, you are ready to have the IUI procedure the day after your surge of LH. If you are taking medications to induce ovulation, your doctor may choose to boost the process with an injection of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to jump start ovulation. Insemination can be performed the day after the injection is administered.

hCG Injection

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone that encourages egg growth and triggers ovulation. IUI isn't going to serve much of a purpose if a woman doesn't have eggs present inside her ovaries at the time of the procedure. The hCG injection is a necessary first step for women who can't grow enough egg follicles to make IUI workable without some ovulatory assistance. The hCG injection causes eggs to be released within 30-40 hours.

Ovulation induction agents like hCG have proven their worth over the years. Scientific research has demonstrated that such treatment raises the success rate of IUI to the tune of 10%, a not insignificant figure. Common ovulation induction agents include the aforementioned hCG, along with clomiphene citrate (Clomid) and human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG). These drugs are only recommended when there is a confirmed diagnosis of an ovulatory disorder. In the case where the cause of infertility is unknown, the use of these agents is contraindicated.

Cheap And Easy

The first-line treatment for ovulation induction is Clomid, because it's the least expensive of these treatments and the easiest to administer. Clomid is taken by mouth. All medications have their drawbacks, however, and the issue with Clomid is that it is prone to concentrate the cervical mucus, making it dense and hostile to sperm. This can lower the possibility that IUI will be a success.

If Clomid fails to bring on ovulation, or its side effects cancel out the benefits, the next step will be injectable medications, often under the auspices of a reproductive endocrinologist.