Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a simple procedure that puts sperm directly inside your uterus, which helps healthy sperm get closer to your egg.
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) — a type of artificial insemination — is a procedure for treating infertility.
Sperm that have been washed and concentrated are placed directly in your uterus around the time your ovary releases one or more eggs to be fertilized.
The hoped-for outcome of intrauterine insemination is for the sperm to swim into the fallopian tube and fertilize a waiting egg, resulting in pregnancy. Depending on the reasons for infertility, IUI can be coordinated with your normal cycle or with fertility medications.
When a woman conceives naturally, sperm travel from the vagina through the cervix (narrow, lower part of the womb), into the uterus (womb), and up into one of the fallopian tubes. If sperm arrive in a tube soon after the release of the egg from the ovary (ovulation); the sperm and egg can meet and unite (fertilization) in the tube.
The cervix naturally limits the number of sperm that enter the uterus. This means that only a small percentage of the sperm in the ejaculate actually make their way into the fallopian tubes. Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a procedure that places sperm past the cervix and in a woman’s uterus around the time of ovulation. This makes the passage to the fallopian tubes much shorter, and there is a better chance that more sperm will encounter the egg. The goal of this procedure is to improve a woman’s chance of getting pregnant.