THE MORE ACCURATE TIMING OF INSEMINATION WITH REGARD TO OVULATION DOES NOT CREATE A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN PREGNANCY RATES IN A DONOR INSEMINATION PROGRAM

Objective: To determine if the accurate prediction of ovulation before artificial insemination of frozen donor semen was justified by increa sed pregnancy rates. Design: A retrospective study of inseminations, o ver a 2-year period, administered to women who were enrolled on a dono r insemination pro,sram and who were monitored using one of four ovula tion timing regimens. Also, a study of the significance of follicle st atus at the time of insemination with relevance to pregnancy was carri ed out. Setting: A university teaching hospital donor insemination pro gram. Patients: Patients entered in this study were undergoing insemin ation with thawed, cryopreserved, donor semen. Main Outcome Measures: Pregnancy and follicle status at the time of insemination. Results: Th ere was no statistically significant difference in pregnancy rates bet ween the four methods of ovulation detection most commonly used for ar tificial insemination. Inseminations several hours either side of ovul ation did not result in a significantly different pregnancy rate than inseminations carried out closer to ovulation. Conclusion: More accura te and expensive methods of detecting changes in ovulation result in n o significant increase in fecundity than other less expensive timing t echniques.