HOMOLOGOUS ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION: A REVIEW OF 300 CASES

Stanley Friedman, M.D., The Tyler Medical Clinic, and UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Los Angeles, California

Abstract submitted to American Fertility Society Meeting in San Francisco - 1978

Homologous artificial insemination (AIH) in 300 infertile couples was reviewed. The major indications for AIH were oligoasthenospermia and poor postcoital tests. After 3 to 6 months of failed AIH, laparoscopy was performed, and those with extensive pelvic disease were not included in this study.

There were 73 pregnancies (24.3%) following AIH. Of the 227 patients who did not conceive through AIH, 26 elected AID and 11 conceived (42.3%). The remaining 201 patients discontinued treatment and 27 (13.4%) conceived spontaneously. Conception rates with AIH did not differ significantly between groups with sperm counts below and above 20 million/ml. The conception rate was significantly greater with sperm motility above 20%.

Thirty-five percent of the women had additional causes for infertility, almost twice the number for women undergoing AID. This suggests that these factors may be more significant than the indication for AIH in some. Of the 195 patients without added causes for infertility, 59 (33.1%) conceived with AIH, 9 with AID, and 23 (18.1% of the remainder) spontaneously. Of the 105 patients with additional factors, 14 (13.3%) conceived with AIH, 2 with AID, and 4 spontaneously. There were no pregnancies with AIH using frozen sperm from oligospermic men. AID resulted in a higher pregnancy rate and perhaps should have been recommended more frequently.

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