Pregnancy Rate by Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Administration Versus Urinary Luteinizing Hormone Surge Method in Patients Undergoing Intrauterine Insemination

Background: Infertility is becoming a world-wide concern in developed and developing countries. Multiple causes are responsible for the situations and various therapies have been developed to overcome this problem in infertile couples, as in the case of intrauterine insemination (IUI), with considerable variations between pregnancy rates in relation to the method employed. Objectives: To compare pregnancy rate, by human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) administration and urinary luteinizing hormone (LH) surge method, for insemination in patients undergoing IUI. Patients and Methods: The present study included 309 infertile women, candidate for IUI, randomly divided into LH surge and HCG groups (each participant was assigned a number from 1 to 309, of which odd numbers were for LH and even numbers for HCG groups, respectively). All patients were subjected to baseline ultrasound and received clomiphene citrate before undergoing serial transvaginal sonography. The LH was measured using LH kit, when 2 - 5 follicles (18 - 20 mm) appeared in LH surge group, and, if positive, IUI was performed after 24 hours. In HCG group, the patients received HCG 1000 units and underwent IUI after 36 hours. The pregnancy rate was then compared in LH and HCG groups. Results: We found no significant differences in pregnancy rates between the two groups. Also, we compared pregnancy rates between the two groups based on age, infertility cause, number of follicles, number of previous IUI and previous abortions. We found no significant differences between the subgroups, in terms of pregnancy rate. Conclusions: The urinary LH surge and HCG administration methods for IUI timing are similar and none had any considerable advantages over the other. However, the use of the urinary LH surge has no side effects or injection pain, in relation to HCG administration methods