In­trau­te­rine in­se­mi­na­tion (IUI) — the first step in trea­ting in­fer­ti­lity

In the transfer of semen (in­trau­te­rine in­se­mi­na­tion), pro­cessed sperm are trans­ferred di­rectly into the uterus via a ca­theter du­ring a wo­man’s fer­tile days. This me­thod is often used when the partner has has a shortage of sperms (li­mited sper­mio­gram). This pro­ce­dure is con­sidered less stressful for the woman — de­spite pre­vious hor­mone the­rapy, which in most cases serves to pro­mote the ma­tu­ra­tion of se­veral eggs. One speaks of a ho­mo­logous in­se­mi­na­tion when the part­ner’s sperm is used, or he­te­ro­logous in­se­mi­na­tion when a do­nor’s sperm is used.

Age is re­le­vant to the chances of suc­cess for both tre­at­ments. The older a woman gets, the fewer eggs she has and the less fer­tile she is. The ova­rian re­serve is me­a­sured with the in­di­cator AMH (anti-mül­le­rian hor­mone) and the hor­mones FSH and LH. The better the ova­rian re­serve, the better the chances of suc­cessful tre­at­ment.

Women under the age of 35 have a 10–15% chance of get­ting pregnant in a single in­se­mi­na­tion cycle. The suc­cess rate is lower if there is tubal ob­s­truc­tion, en­do­me­triosis or in­fer­ti­lity for more than three years.

The aim of in­se­mi­na­tion is to trans­port as many po­tent sperm cells as pos­sible to the wo­man’s egg, ide­ally at the right time when the egg is ma­ture. This is why the tre­at­ment is al­most al­ways pre­ceded by hor­monal sti­mu­la­tion of the ova­ries.

For the sti­mu­la­tion drugs are ad­mi­nis­tered that can com­pen­sate for a hor­monal im­ba­lance de­pen­ding on the in­itial si­tua­tion. Only when at least one fol­licle has ma­tured in­se­mi­na­tion can take place after ovu­la­tion has been trig­gered.

The pre­pared sperm cells are trans­ferred di­rectly into the uterus with the help of a ca­theter after the woman has ovu­lated. Fer­ti­liza­tion, thus the union of egg and sperm takes place di­rectly in the fallo­pian tube.

The ac­tual sperm transfer is re­la­tively un­com­pli­cated and pain­less. Ho­wever, the prior hor­mone tre­at­ment can be stressful for the body and is as­so­ciated with he­alth risks. Very ra­rely, it can lead to so-called over­sti­mu­la­tion syn­drome, an “over­re­ac­tion” of the treated per­son’s body to the hor­mone pre­pa­ra­tions. This can re­sult in ab­do­minal pain, nausea, tight­ness in the ab­domen and short­ness of breath.

The hor­mone sti­mu­la­tion can also cause more fol­licles to ma­ture. This in­creases the li­keli­hood of a mul­tiple pregnancy. This is much more phy­si­cally de­man­ding for pregnant women. The risk of pre­term la­bour and pre­ma­ture birth is also in­creased with mul­tiple births.

The costs for in­se­mi­na­tion vary bet­ween the fe­deral states and the fer­ti­lity cli­nics. An­yone who has IUI per­formed with hor­mone tre­at­ment must bear the costs for the me­di­ca­tion. In ad­di­tion, there are the tre­at­ment costs of the clinic. You can ex­pect an average of 400 to 800 euros per tre­at­ment cycle.

Cost co­verage by he­alth insu­rance

He­alth insu­rance com­pa­nies often cover at least part of the IUI tre­at­ment costs for mar­ried, he­te­ro­se­xual cou­ples. It is the­r­e­fore worth con­sul­ting your own he­alth insu­rance com­pany in ad­vance to find out what ser­vices are of­fered.

At Fer­tilly, we have made it our mis­sion to ac­com­pany cou­ples (ho­mo­se­xual and he­te­ro­se­xual) and sin­gles on the way to ful­fil­ling their child wish. In doing so, it is im­portant to us to create trans­pa­rency in the area of fer­ti­lity ser­vices, to pro­vide in­for­ma­tion and know­ledge on the to­pics of pregnancy and fer­ti­lity and to help you to find the most sui­table Fer­ti­lity Center. Th­rough co­ope­ra­tion with first-class Fer­ti­lity Cen­tres and cli­nics in Eu­rope, en­qui­ries about Fer­tilly are given pre­fe­ren­tial tre­at­ment. This means that our pa­ti­ents avoid the usually long wai­ting times and get ap­point­ments more quickly.

If you would like more in­for­ma­tion about Fer­ti­lity Cen­ters, suc­cess rates and prices, please contact us using this ques­ti­on­n­aire. We will ad­vise you free of charge and wi­t­hout any ob­li­ga­tion.