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By Mayo Clinic staffAn IUI takes place in your doctor's office or clinic. Your doctor or a specially trained nurse performs the procedure. The IUI procedure itself requires no medications or pain relievers.
During the procedure
First, you'll change into a hospital gown. Next, while lying on an exam table, you'll put your legs into stirrups and a speculum will be inserted into your vagina — similar to what you experience during a Pap test.
The doctor or nurse then inserts a long, thin, flexible tube called a catheter into your vagina, through your cervical opening and into your uterus. A vial containing the small sample of healthy sperm is attached to the end of the catheter, and the sperm sample is pushed through the tube into your uterus. The doctor or nurse then removes the catheter, followed by the speculum.
After the procedure
The intrauterine insemination procedure usually takes 15 to 20 minutes. After insemination you'll be asked to lie on your back for a brief period. After the procedure is over, you can get dressed and go about your normal daily activities. You may experience some light spotting for a day or two after the procedure.
- Lobo RA. Infertility: Etiology, diagnostic evaluation, management, prognosis. In: Katz VL, et al. Comprehensive Gynecology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/208702118-2/0/1524/267.html?tocnode=53760021&fromURL=267.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-02951-3..50044-3_1301. Accessed July 2, 2010.
- Hornstein MD, et al. Treatment of unexplained infertility. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 2, 2010.
- Middleton NR, et al. Procedure for intrauterine insemination. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 2, 2010.
- Resnick DJ, et al. The approach to conception for women with seminal plasma protein hypersensitivity. American Journal of Reproductive Immunology. 2004;52:42.
- Doody KJ. Treatment of the infertile couple. In: Schorge JO, et al. Williams Gynecology. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aid=3158038. Accessed July 2, 2010.
- Levine BA, et al. Intrauterine insemination and male subfertility. Urologic Clinics of North America. 2008;35:271.
- Dickey RP, et al. Effect of diagnosis, age, sperm quality, and number of preovulatory follicles on the outcome of multiple cycles of clomiphene citrate-intrauterine insemination. Fertility & Sterility. 2002;78:1088.
- Guzick DS, et al. Efficacy of superovulation and intrauterine insemination in the treatment of infertility. New England Journal of Medicine. 1999;340:177.
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