The effectiveness of intrauterine insemination in couples with sterility due to male infertility with and without a woman's hormone factor

Abstract

Objective: To examine the efficacy of IUI on fecundity and baby-take-home rates in cases of infertility attributable to a male factor with and without a woman's hormone factor. Design: Retrospective analysis. Setting: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the General Public Hospital, Horn, Austria. Patient(s): Seventy-eight long-standing involuntarily childless couples. Intervention(s): After a follicular phase GnRH analog (buserelin) protocol with hMG stimulation of the woman and a Percoll gradient preparation and capacitation of the man's semen, an IUI was performed. Main Outcome Measure(s): Fecundity and baby-take-home rates. Result(s): One hundred nine inseminations were followed by 53 pregnancies (48.6%; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 38.9%-58.4%) and 38 deliveries (34.9%; 95% CI 26.0%-44.6%). Forty-nine children were born and 47 are alive (43.1%). Conclusion(s): Intrauterine insemination combined with buserelin gonadotropin stimulation, Percoll semen preparation, and sperm capacitation is a feasible solution to the problem of sterility attributable to a male factor with and without a woman's hormone factor.