Success rates for IUI

[Anonymous]

My doctor just referred me to Dr. Sacks at Columbia Fertility and she believes that I'm a good candidate for IUI. Since I am a bit new to the whole IUI/IVF stuff, I wanted to check out success rates. I'm pretty pleased with what I have read here and other places about Dr. Sacks, but when I went to the Columbia Fertility website, I got kind of confused reading their success rate information. (I also understand that Dr. Sacks takes some cases that lower his success rates, I'm not worried about that info.)

Is there a place I can go to (a) understand what I should be looking for, (b) find out more about how to interpret what these offices are reporting, and (c) compare the success rates of one office to another.

I guess what I really need is a better understanding of how all this information is reported and what the numbers really mean.

[Anonymous]

The CDC has a web site with lots of information: http://www.cdc.gov/ART/. I don't think they report IUI stats, though (just IVF), but it would at least give you some indication of how clinics compare. The way IUI was explained to me was that it puts you about on level footing with "normal" couples (i.e., no more than 20-25% chance of success per cycle). Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately the cdc does not require fertility clinics to report IUI data. So the data you will see refers to IVF, GIFT, ZIFT. I am using Dr. Sacks and I actually never asked about success rate of IUI. I just went with what I read of IUI success rates generally, which ranges quite a bit depending on whether meds used or not. I have seen anything from 6% to 26%. But remember that a woman's chances of getting pregnant through intercourse around ovulation is something like 20%.

I would be interested to know if Columbia does track. Maybe I will ask next time!

[Anonymous]

IUI gets you close to what you odds of pregnancy are per cycle if you or your partner didn't have any fertility issues---so about 20%. However, this is unfortunately with the best case scenarios---IUIs done for mild ovarian dysfuction and the like in women under 35. The odds go down with poor sperm, age older than 35 etc.

I think Shady Grove has their IUI success rates on their site.

http://www.shadygrovefertility.com/iui_success_rates

This shows live birth rates of 8-17% per cycle depending on diagnosis and from close to 0% to 17% depending on age.

[Anonymous]

SG quoted me ~15% chance per IUI cycle using injectibles. I think the % is lower using clomid. (I am someone <35 and with unexplained IF)

[Anonymous]

There are so many variables that it's hard to say. Depends on the reason for the infertility, your age, the protocol they put you on, etc.

Clomid tends to have a lower success rate than injectibles, but it also has a lower incidence of multiples. That might factor into the choice of protocol.

I am cycling for the first time at Shady Grove on a clomid + injectible FSH protocol. We discussed the stats with our doctor, but I honestly don't know how to truly gauge my likelihood of success, given all these factors.

[Anonymous]

I'm in my 2ww from a NCIVF which has a higher success rate than IUI which my DH and I tried 3 times at Shady Grove without success. Overall, I felt better with the NC but if it doesn't work than we will have to move on to full IVF or give up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in my 2ww from a NCIVF which has a higher success rate than IUI which my DH and I tried 3 times at Shady Grove without success. Overall, I felt better with the NC but if it doesn't work than we will have to move on to full IVF or give up.

Actually, this poster is providing incorrect information. I am a patient of Dr. Gordon's/NCIVF and I was told by both Dr. Gordon and Dr. DiMattina that there are currently no studies out there that compare success rates of NCIVF to IUI. NCIVF is still too new of a procedure (Dominion began offering the service in 2007) so both Drs agree that you can't really say that NCIVF provides higher success rates simply because it hasn't been studied. The only benefit of NCIVF over IUI is that you will know ahead of the 2ww whether or not your egg fertilized. I did 3 rounds of NCIVF (all failed) and one round of IUI with clomid/injectables and got a BFP.