Optimizing the first-line fertility treatment

Associated factors to pregnancy in intrauterine insemination

Objective

To define the factors associated with clinical pregnancy after intrauterine insemination.

Methods

Retrospective study involving 633 infertility couples, which made up to 1053 cycles of intrauterine insemination. We analyzed the clinical pregnancy rate associated with different factors through the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test.

Results

The clinical pregnancy rate was 8.2% per insemination cycle and 13.6% per treated couple. The factors with greater association to clinical pregnancy were to have more than two follicles, to perform the procedure without difficulty, to have 3 years or less of infertility, cervical factor as indication, use of gonadotropins and age less than 38 years.

Conclusion

Intrauterine insemination requires to be accompanied by proper selection and couples' preparation.

Evaluation of the Standardization in Semen Analysis Performance According to the WHO Protocols Among Laboratories in Tehran, Iran

Background and Objective:

Infertility refers to the failure in achieving pregnancy of a couple after one year of regular sexual intercourse without using a protection method. The purpose of this research work was to evaluate the current status of the test and quality control performance in semen analysis in selected laboratories.

Material and Methods:

The semen analysis was performed in the Laboratory of Andrology in terms of macroscopic examination which include volume, color, viscosity, pH and acidity, and in terms of microscopy: the rate of sperm movement, the exact number of sperms per ml of semen, the percentage of sperm viability and movement, the presence of germ cells and white blood cells. Several questions for each part of the test were selected and answered by the director of the laboratories or andrology section supervisor.

Results:

There was a wide range in the performance of selected medical laboratories in Tehran regarding the standards of semen analysis according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Laboratory Manual for the examination and processing of human semen, fifth edition in 2010. They followed the instructions related to the sample collection in about 70% of the evaluated parameters, initial macroscopic examination in about 87% of the selected subjects, and the microscopic evaluation of sperm in about 65% of the test parameters.

Conclusion:

some laboratories do not follow the instructions of the WHO in performing semen analysis, and most of them do not follow the suggested methods in all parts of the test.