Intrauterine insemination.

Fifty-six couples with infertility due either to subnormal sperm (n = 40), hostile cervical mucus (n = 5) or idiopathic infertility (n = 11), were treated with intrauterine insemination of washed sperm. A total of 78 treatment cycles were completed. Nine pregnancies resulted from these insemination cycles, giving an overall pregnancy rate of 8.3% per treatment cycle. Eight pregnancies occurred in the andrologic group after 56 treatment cycles. One pregnancy was established in the patient group with idiopathic infertility after 15 treatment cycles, while no pregnancy occurred in the patient group with infertility due to cervical mucus hostility. The mean number of years of infertility in the couples conceiving following treatment was 7 years (range 3-11). The spontaneous pregnancy rate in this patient group is low. The data obtained in this study suggest that in selected patients intrauterine insemination will result in an acceptable pregnancy rate. There is a need for a randomized prospective study designed to compare the efficacy of intrauterine insemination with that of alternative treatment modalities.