Researchers from The University of Auckland in New Zealand recently published a study in the journal Human Reproduction comparing pregnancy rates between sperm perfusion and intrauterine insemination in women with non-tubal infertility. According to the study, pregnancy rates are not different between the two procedures.
Intrauterine insemination was performed in 210 women and sperm perfusion was performed in 207 women. Data were used for analysis from 198 women in each group. Twenty-seven women achieved pregnancy in the intrauterine insemination group compared to 21 women in the sperm perfusion group – the difference was not statistically significant. Ectopic pregnancy rates were also comparable between the two groups with insemination and perfusion reporting 2 and 1 ectopic pregnancies, respectively.
Researchers noted that clinics performed variable ovulation protocols and 10% of sperm used for insemination and perfusion were from donors.
Source: Farquhar CM, Brown J, Arroll N, Gupta D, Boothroyd CV, Al Bassam M, Moir J, Johnson NP. A randomized controlled trial of fallopian tube sperm perfusion compared with standard intrauterine insemination for women with non-tubal infertility. Hum Reprod. 2013 Apr 11.
