Comparison of intracervical, intrauterine, and intratubal techniques for donor insemination. Intrauterine insemination with frozen sperm increases pregnancy rates in donor insemination cycles under gonadotropin stimulation. Prospective randomized comparison of intrauterine and intracervical insemination with donor spermatozoa. Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and intrauterine insemination for treating male subfertility: a controlled study.
To compare the efficacy of intracervical insemination (ICI), intrauterine insemination (IUI), and a combination of intratubal and intrauterine insemination (ITI/IUI) for donor insemination.
                Prospective randomized clinical trial.
                The University of Michigan donor insemination program.
                Forty-one women undergoing donor insemination with cryopreserved sperm for either isolated male factor or male factor plus ovulatory dysfunction corrected by clomiphene citrate.
                Each patient was randomly assigned to receive each of the three insemination techniques in consecutive cycles until pregnancy occurred or the patient dropped from the study.
                Cycle fecundity rates were compared using the chi 2 test, and cumulative pregnancy rates (PRs) determined by life table analysis were compared using a log-rank test.
                Cycle fecundity rate was significantly higher for IUI (18.3%) than for ICI (3.9%) or ITI/IUI (7.3%). By life table analysis, the cumulative PR for IUI was significantly higher than for ICI, but the PR for ITI/IUI was not.
                For donor insemination with cryopreserved sperm, IUI increases cycle fecundity compared with ICI. The addition of ITI to IUI, however, interferes with the apparent beneficial effect of IUI alone. To compare the efficacy of IUI donor and pericervical insemination donor in frozen sperm insemination cycles under gonadotropin stimulation.
                Couples where infertility was caused by male conditions were randomized into two groups: IUI and pericervical insemination. Semen samples, gonadotropin stimulation, and ovarian monitoring were the same in both groups. One IUI was performed per cycle as against two pericervical inseminations.
                The donor insemination program at the Human Reproduction Unit at the Hospital of Cruces, Pais Vasco University.
                Eighty-eight women (47 IUI and 41 pericervical insemination) with at least one patent fallopian tube and < 40 years of age.
                Intrauterine gestational sac observed by transvaginal ultrasound.
                Per woman pregnancy rate (PR) was higher in IUI than in pericervical insemination (65.96% versus 41.46%, odds ratio [OR] = 2.73, confidence interval [CI] = 1.06 to 7.2). Pregnancy rates were always higher in IUI irrespective of woman and husband's status, but statistical significance was not reached in any subgroups analyzed independently. Per cycle PR was also significantly higher in IUI than in pericervical insemination: 24.03% (31/129) versus 11.89% (17/143) (OR = 2.34, CI = 1.17 to 4.71). Moreover, cumulative PR was higher in IUI (86% versus 49.5%) (OR = 6, CI = 1.98 to 18.80).
                Per woman and per cycle PRs were significantly higher in IUI. From March 1990 to September 1993, 20 women underwent a total of 89 cycles of intracervical inseminations with donor semen (ICI) and 23 women underwent 67 cycles of intrauterine inseminations with donor semen (IUI). The women were assigned to the two groups randomly, but ensuring that the ages of the women and pathologies of the male partner (azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia) were similar in the two groups. There was no significant difference between the characteristics of the two groups and the method used to induce ovulation (HMG/HCG) was identical. Two semen straws were used for each insemination cycle. Semen was prepared for IUI on a Percoll gradient. Thirteen clinical pregnancies were obtained in the IUI group (19.4% of the attempts) and six in the ICI group (6.75%). After six cycles of insemination, 75.4% of the women of the IUI group obtained a pregnancy, as compared to 35% in the ICI group. These good results may be due to the method of induction of ovulation, but also to the technique itself, increasing the number of motile spermatozoa at the site of fertilization. The time taken to obtain a pregnancy is thus shorter with IUI than with ICI, and the number of semen straws required is smaller. In-vitro fertilization (IVF) should be proposed after six failures by IUI. In this randomized crossover trial we investigated whether the use of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation with low-dose human menopausal gonadotrophin in couples with male subfertility leads to a higher probability of conception when intrauterine insemination (IUI) is applied. We also investigated whether the efficacy of IUI in natural or stimulated cycles was related to the severity of male subfertility. Seventy-four couples completed 308 treatment cycles. Thirteen pregnancies occurred after IUI in a natural cycle (pregnancy rate per completed cycle: 8.4%) and 21 after IUI in a stimulated cycle (pregnancy rate per completed cycle: 13.7%). The difference between the two treatment modalities was not statistically significant. The efficacy of IUI in stimulated cycles was related to the severity of the semen defect. In couples with a total motile sperm count < 10 x 10(6), ovarian stimulation did not improve treatment outcome, while it did in couples with a total motile sperm count > or = 10 x 10(6). Compared with the expected chance of conceiving spontaneously without treatment, both natural and stimulated cycles improved the probability of conception. We conclude that, for the group as a whole, ovarian stimulation did not improve the probability of conception. However, in couples with less severe semen defects, ovarian stimulation did improve the probability of conception.
The findings of this review support use of IUI rather than CI in stimulated cycles using cryopreserved sperm for donor insemination.