| DI is one of the oldest
treatments for infertility. It has been used in Britain for at least
50 years. Throughout the world, several hundred thousand children
have been born following DI. In DI, semen donated by fertile men is
used to help women become pregnant. The woman and the donor never
meet and never find out eachother's identity, although the question
of anonymity of donors is currently under review.
Di is mainly used to produce pregnancies in couples where the man
is infertile. This is usually a natural phenomenon, but can follow
disease or a vasectomy (male sterilisation operation) that cannot
be reversed. There are other special circumstances and if these
apply to you, they will be discussed before you start treatment.
How is DI carried out?
The most important part of DI is working out he best day for it
to be carried out. Temperature charts do not help much. More useful
is a combination of urine testing for the hormones women produce
when they are about to ovulate, and ultrasound scanning of the ovaries.
When the best day has been reached the actual treatment is simple.
The neck of the womb is examined using the same instrument as for
a cervical smear. A very fine tube is used to inject the prepared
sperm through the neck of the womb. This procedure lasts about 5
minutes and you can then rest for 10 -15 minutes before going home.
Use of Ovarian Stimulation
Some women do not ovulate regularly. Some experts also believe that
insemination procedures work more reliably if more than one egg
is produced. In some cases we may therefore suggest that we stimulate
your ovaries. This is done with either fertility tablets or injection,
or both, which means that we can be more precise about the day of
ovulation, but we also need to arrange more scans.
Who are the donors and how are they screened?
Semen donors are men of normal fertility, health and intelligence,
many of whom are students. The Unit uses only frozen semen for DI
treatment. Blood is taken from donors when they first start giving
semen and regularly thereafter. They are screened for sexually transmitted
infections such as hepatiitis, syphilis, chlamydia, HIV (the virus
that causes AIDS) and cyclomeglavirus (CMV) They are also tested
to see if they are carriers of the gene for cystic fibrosis.
No semen is used unless blood tests for infection are still negative
at least 6 months after that semen sample has been produced. Despite
all of these tests, we cannot give a 100% guarantee of safety or
exclude abnormalities for which we cannot test or of which we are
not aware. The doctor will discuss this with you during your consultation.
Is there an age limit for treatment?
All fertility treatments are less successful in women over the age
of 40 and our Unit does not routinely offer treatment to patients
over this age.
What counselling is available?
Artificial insemination can be demanding and stressful. Personal
and independent counselling
from experienced infertility counsellors
is available at all stages of your treatment. Our counsellors are
independent of the Unit and any counselling you receive will be
in strict confidence.
The counsellors can be contacted directly on 0151 702 4075
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Treatments
