IUI
Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) is a common procedure involving the medical insertion of sperm into the uterus to promote pregnancy. In this technique, the male partner produces a semen sample that then undergoes sperm washing (this is a laboratory process by which the sperm is separated from the seminal fluid and the most motile sperm is isolated). The “washed” sperm is then inserted high into the woman’s uterus at the time she is most fertile.
IUI has proven beneficial in many circumstances, including those in which a man has a low sperm count or low sperm motility, and when the sperm has difficulty passing through the woman’s cervical mucous. In essence, IUI allows more high quality sperm to reach the egg, thus increasing your chances of getting pregnant. At the Hannam Fertility Centre, we practice IUI using a guided ultrasound. This allows the sperm to be released with greater precision, further ameliorating the odds of fertilization. As a result, our pregnancy rates from IUI are 50% greater than published averages.
Donor sperm is used in IUI when no sperm is present in the semen, and for single patients and same-sex couples.