ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Assisted reproduction techniques are used more and more frequently in the treatment of coulples with infertility diagnosis. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the intrauterine insemination (IUI) value in controlled ovarian hyperstimulation cycles (COH). MATERIAL AND METHODS: An analytic, comparative, retrospective and longitudinal case-control study was performed. COH with IUI (group I) or with timed intercourse (TI) (group II) cycles from January 1st 2004 to December 31st 2006 were analyzed. Infertile patients aged between 24 and 42 years (group I) and between 23 and 36 years (group II) were included. The following variables were analyzed: Age, type, etiology and duration of infertility, sperm density and motility after capacitation or seminal analysis, number of total and mature follicles, endometrial thickness, gonadotropin type and dosage, insemination or TI cycle day. Pregnant vs non pregnant and pregnancies in both groups were analyzed. Results were analyzed with the STATA 7.0 and SPSS 12.0 programs. RESULTS: 873 COH+I UI cycles in 539 couples and 246 COH+ TI in 138 patients were analyzed the pregnancy rates per cycle were 13.1% and 5.2% for each group respectively. The mean woman's age was of 32.9 +/- 3.5 and 31.8 +/- 2.7 years for groups I and II respectively. There were significant differences in sperm density in both groups. The remaining variables showed no statistical differences. CONCLUSIONS: IUI versus TI do not seems to be superior with respect to the pregnancy rates in COH cycles.