IUI Success

There are many factors that determine how successful an IUI procedure will be. Some of these are the same factors that apply to any fertility treatment: age of the female, ovarian function, fallopian tube blockage, pelvic adhesions and other additional causes of infertility, whether fertility medications were also used etc.

One important factor that is specific to intrauterine insemination is the amount of motile sperm that is inserted into the uterus. Several studies have indicated that if a man has a low number of progressively motile sperm after the sperm wash, that the chance for pregnancy is lowered. The lower the number, the lower the chances for pregnancy.

If a man has a high percentage of abnormal appearing sperm on a semen test, that will also lower the chances for success.

Timing of the intrauterine insemination is also very important. In order to maximize the chance for pregnancy, sperm must be inseminated on the same day as ovulation. Performing the IUI the day before or day after will lower the chance for IUI success. This is an important point, it is not acceptable for a provider of intrauterine inseminations to tell a patient who is ovulating on a Sunday, that she must wait until Monday when the office is open. This will severely compromise the chances for success.

On the other hand, there does not seem to be any advantage to performing an intrauterine insemination twice. Several well done studies comparing the pregnancy rates between couples having a single insemination to those having two inseminations have found no significant difference in the pregnancy rates.