You may be offered IUI if we can’t find a medical reason for your infertility. We may also suggest this as an appropriate treatment if you have problems with sex or are uncomfortable with the idea of IVF, for example on ethical grounds.
Whereas, in IVF, we fertilise your eggs outside your body in our laboratory, during IUI, fertilisation takes place in the womb, just as it does in a natural pregnancy.
We will offer you drugs to stimulate your ovaries to produce a number of eggs. On the day the actual IUI takes place, we will need a semen sample from your husband or partner. If you are using donor sperm, this will be prepared for the treatment. We will then prepare the sperm and pass it through your cervix and into your womb, using a fine straw. The hope is that the sperm will meet the egg and that fertilisation will take place.
IUI is available at Cambridge IVF to self-funded patients. Please contact us at enquiries@cambridgeivf.org.uk or on 01223 349010 for further details and prices.