Infertility In Women - Lifestyle Changes

Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are medical techniques that help couples conceive. These procedures involve either:

• A couple’s own eggs or sperm
• Donor eggs, sperm, or embryos

Fertilization may occur either in the laboratory or in the uterus. In the U.S., the number of live birth deliveries from ART has dramatically increased in the last decade. About 40,000 live births (deliveries of one or more infants) occur in the U.S. each year using assisted reproductive technologies.

Technically, the term ART refers only to fertility treatments, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and its variants, which handle both egg and sperm.

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Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)

Artificial insemination (AI) involves placing the sperm directly in the cervix (called intracervical insemination) or into the uterus (called intrauterine insemination, or IUI).

IUI is the standard AI procedure. It involves placing washed sperm into the woman’s uterine cavity through a long, thin catheter. The procedure is performed when a woman is ovulating and is used for patients whose tubes are not blocked from endometriosis or scarring.

• A woman will first be given three cycles of clomiphene pills to stimulate egg production, at the same time having sexual contact with her partner timed around ovulation.
• If she fails to conceive, three additional cycles of clomiphene are used, combined with IUI.
• If the clomiphene-IUI combination does not work, the woman receives three cycles of IUI combined with injections of a gonadotropin-stimulating hormone drug.
• If this method fails, the woman may be a candidate for in vitro fertilization (IVF). Some insurance plans only cover IUI and do not pay for IVF.

IUI is the least complex and least expensive of fertility procedures and is often tried first in uncomplicated cases of infertility. However, recent studies indicate that IUI combined with fertility injections poses a greater risk for multiple births and has a lower rate of pregnancy success than IVF.