There are various factors that cause infertility, consequently, specialists form individual approaches to deal with particular cases. Artificial insemination is one of such approaches used to treat infertility.
What is an insemination? It’s the husband’s/donor’s sperm injection into the uterine cavity after certain medical preparations.
When is this method used? This method is generally used in cases when the sperm quality is law and/or the female patient has minor hormonal disturbances.
One of the conditions that makes it possible for this method to be carried out is normal uteral tubes patency which is to be examined by specialists.
After the appropriate preparations have been carried out (ovarian stimulation, hormonal correction, measuring the size of follicles through ultrascan screenings), the husband’s/donor’s sperm is then injected into the uterine cavity. This procedure is absolutely harmless and brings no discomfort.
This method is 25-30% efficient, still one should bear in mind that during one cycle the ability to conceive even in a healthy couple is as much as 25%.
Insemination with a donor’s sperm
It is important to understand that if insemination with a donor’s sperm does not result in a pregnancy, nothing will prevent patients from carrying out an IVF. And vice versa, if do an IVF first and fail in it, there is a risk that the woman’s physical and mental health go for the worse and then artificial insemination can become 100% inefficient.
Donor’s sperm insemination has its advantages concerning IVF/ICSI:
- there no strong hormonal stimulations that might affect the future child’s health,
- male infertility cannot be passed on to future generations any more (there is no evidence for IVF/ICSI transmission yet),
- there is no risk for the mother’s health as in IVF.
Artificial insemination with a donor’s sperm shall be carried out:
- when the husband’s sperm quality is law (as IVF, IVF/ICSI alternative) or when a woman has no sexual partner/husband.
In this case, only anonymous donor’s sperm or the sperm of a donor you have selected on your own can be used.
The child born after such an insemination will genetically belong to the woman and the sperm donor, yet, officially it will belong to the woman’s husband if there is any. Whatever the case is, the doctors keep the fact of artificial insemination as medical secret, and the donor is deprived of any right to paternity.
Insemination with the husband’s sperm
In this case, the husband’s sperm is injected into the woman’s uterine cavity.
Usually, this method is used in case of immunological infertility, abnormal uterine position, low sperm count, impotence and other dysfunction.
This method can be used only when the woman had healthy ovaries and uterine tubes.