A recent article published in Fertility & Sterility journal in July 2013 has highlighted the importance of endometrial development in IUI treatment cycles. Patients who had unexplained infertility and were undergoing first IUI cycles at the age of less than forty three years with a total motile sperm count of 8 million or more sperm were included in this research trial.
This was a retrospective review of almost 3000 patient over a seven year duration from 2004 – 2011. The medications used were Clomiphene Citrate or Clomid along with FSH injections followed by IUI. The researchers measured endometrial thickness or the thickness of the womb lining, along with blood oestradiol levels on the day of the HCG trigger injection and also measured the patients BMI, total motile sperm, follicle number and its association with clinical pregnancy.
The conclusion of this research project was that the impact of endometrial factor in fertility may be under-appreciated in IUI therapy. Targeted therapy is to optimise the endometrium represent an important new area to improve in current fertility success rates.
In short, the trial showed that as the women got older and had high E2 levels, the endometrial thickness declined and the success rates got lower.