IUI in male subfertility: Are we able to select the proper patients?

Janne Meije van Weert, Sjoerd Repping, Jan Willem van der Steeg, Pieternel Steures, Fulco van der Veen, Ben Willem J. Mol

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There is at this time no indication as to which semen parameters from the fertility work-up discriminate between couples with male subfertility who will and will not benefit from intrauterine insemination (IUI). This study evaluated the predictive capacity of semen parameters (both pre- and post-wash) and antisperm antibodies (ASA) obtained during the fertility work-up on IUI outcome in couples with male subfertility in a retrospective cohort study. It included 290 couples, who underwent 722 IUI cycles. The overall ongoing pregnancy rate was 9% per cycle. Model I, with female age, duration of subfertility, secondary subfertility, the presence of anovulation, cervical hostility and cycle number had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.59. Adding the presence of ASA to this model improved the AUC to 0.65 (model II). Further addition of the post-wash total motile count (TMC) to the model with ASA (model III) improved the AUC to 0.67. Using the models to exclude couples from IUI due to low expected pregnancy rates would increase the pregnancy rate to 11% per cycle with model I, and to 14% per cycle for model II and for model III. In conclusion, in the selection of patients with male subfertility for IUI, the use of prediction models including ASA can increase the efficiency of IUI.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1879
Pages (from-to)624-631
Number of pages8
JournalReproductive BioMedicine Online
Volume11
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2005
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Intrauterine insemination
  • Male subfertility
  • Pregnancy and semen parameters
  • Prognostic factors

Cite this