How Would I Know When to Pursue More Advanced Fertility Treatments?

The decision to seek out more advanced fertility treatments is a complex question, and multiple factors must be considered when making it. For most couples undergoing treatment with IUI (either alone or with fertility drugs), the best chances for success usually occur within the first four treatment cycles. After that, the likelihood for pregnancy decreases. In many of our patients, we recommend only one or two IUI treatments. If these efforts are unsuccessful, we suggest that the couple proceed with other, more aggressive treatments, including both Natural Cycle IVF and traditional IVF using injectable fertility medications.

For some patients, IUI should rarely be utilized. For example, those couples with severe tubal disease, severe endometriosis, pelvic adhesions, or severe male factor infertility may do best by directly proceeding with IVF as their first treatment option. If an age factor is present or if the couple has prolonged infertility (infertility lasting more than 5 years), we often recommend IVF first, as well. Remember that IVF is the only treatment for which even a failed treatment cycle provides some insight into a couple’s fertility potential. IVF does allow us to make some assessment of egg quality, fertilization and embryo development. A failed IUI cycle yields no such information as we only know that the cycle failed but learn nothing about fertilization, embryo growth or embryo quality.