Fertility treatments: what is artificial insemination?

Sometimes, and due to different problems, there are heterosexual couples who have problems having a child through the traditional method . In most cases, what tends to fail is fertility, whether of the woman or the man, and this means that the pregnancy does not end. However, there are solutions that guarantee that this pregnancy can end up. One of them is artificial insemination .

For those who have not heard of artificial insemination, you should know that it is a medical alternative to the natural insemination technique . It is also called intrauterine insemination, and it is a fairly simple technique today. It is practiced without added difficulties, and in most cases it ends up causing a pregnancy, which always usually comes to fruition. The success rate is highly variable, ranging from 9 to 24%. It may seem low, but it really is a rate quite similar to that obtained with the traditional method, even slightly higher.

But what exactly is artificial insemination? Basically it is a technique by which the specialist deposits the sperm inside the uterus , thus preventing it from being lost on the way to it. It is necessary that the woman is ovulated at that time, either naturally or with ovarian stimulation, which would be carried out by means of a medication that the specialist himself would dictate. For artificial insemination to be carried out, the man must not have fertility problems; However, if you had fertility problems, it would be as simple as using donor sperm.

Normally, it is used in heterosexual couples in which the woman who has fertility problems is the woman , or in couples of women, or even in women who do not have a partner and want, despite everything, to have a pregnancy. It does not pose any type of risk to the mother’s health and, as we have pointed out, it has quite high pregnancy rates.

ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION: A VERY SIMPLE PROCESS

Although the process is quite easy, there are some factors or conditions to take into account when it comes to knowing if insemination will work or not. As a general rule, it works best in young women , and the sperm should always be in the best possible condition.

Artificial insemination does not even require anesthesia , and it does not cause much discomfort to patients; they usually speak of a sensation very similar to that of cytologies, with which nothing that cannot be easily borne. The first thing to do is go to a specialist, who will confirm whether or not artificial insemination is necessary. The first thing this doctor will do, once he has decided to start the process, will be to send the woman a daily medication, which is usually administered subcutaneously . With this medication, what is intended to achieve is that an ovum grows and matures, so that there are more chances of pregnancy. The process will be followed with vaginal ultrasounds.

When it is known that the woman is going to ovulate, approximately thirty-six hours before this happens, the semen of her partner, or the donor’s semen , will be deposited in her uterus . But this semen is not introduced without more, but it will be the most fertilizing part of everything that the man has ejaculated, in which there are more sperm. In this way, the woman will be more likely to get pregnant. After this, you will have to wait 14 days to know if the pregnancy has taken place or not.

WHO IS ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION INTENDED FOR?

There are two types of artificial insemination: in which the donated semen is from the partner, and in which the semen is from an anonymous donor. Insemination with the partner’s sperm is designed, above all, for people with infertility of unknown origin and of young age, or in which only the woman has problems. These problems could be alterations at the level of the cervix , or disorders at the time of ovulation. If the man has only slight defects in the semen (such as little movement of the sperm) it can also be carried out.

An insemination with donor semen should be chosen when it is the male who has a poor seminal quality, or carries a genetic disease that is contagious and, furthermore, cannot be easily detected in the embryos. In the latter case, to avoid problems in the fetus, it is best to choose the semen of another man.

It can also be used by women who want to get pregnant without the need for a man involved , as long as they are under forty years old and have no ovarian problems. In that chaos, they might end up preferring IVF.