What is artificial insemination?

In order to help some infertile families, there is not only the method of test tube baby, but also a method called artificial assisted pregnancy. This method is to send the fertilized egg into the woman's uterus through some artificial means. After the woman recuperates for a period of time, the implantation will be stable, so that the fetus has been preserved. So what is artificial assisted pregnancy?

Artificial assisted reproduction, also known as artificial insemination, refers to an assisted reproductive medicine technology that places semen into the female reproductive tract through non-sexual intercourse to allow sperm and egg to combine in order to achieve conception.

Artificial assisted reproduction is mainly suitable for infertile patients in the following situations:

1. The man's semen is normal, but there are obstacles to sexual intercourse, such as impotence, premature ejaculation, retrograde ejaculation, paraplegia, penis deformity, etc., which prevent sperm from being ejaculated into the female reproductive tract normally;

2. Low sperm count, high sperm deformity rate and semen liquefaction;

3. The woman's vagina and cervix are deformed, and semen cannot enter the reproductive tract normally

Four conditions for assisted reproduction Artificial reproduction is a very complicated process. It must meet four basic conditions: the woman must excrete healthy and mature eggs; the man must have normal sperm; the egg and sperm must have the opportunity to combine; and there must be a place suitable for the fertilized egg to implant.

1. Women need to release healthy and mature eggs. A normal woman's ovaries contain hundreds of thousands of primordial follicles. During a woman's lifetime, only 400 to 500 follicles develop and mature. When the ovaries mature, ovulation occurs once a month, and this ovulation process is affected by the endocrine interaction between the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and ovaries. Women usually release only one egg per month, which can be released from either of their two ovaries. The two ovaries sometimes ovulate alternately, and occasionally two eggs are released from one ovary at the same time. Only when a woman releases healthy and mature eggs can she become pregnant, otherwise it is difficult to conceive.

2. Men must have normal sperm. When a man's reproductive organs mature, his testicles can produce sperm in addition to male hormones. A mature sperm looks like a tadpole, with four parts: head, neck, body, and tail.

3. The woman's fallopian tubes must be unobstructed. At least one side of the fallopian tube must be unobstructed. Only in this way can the normal combination of sperm and egg be guaranteed until the fertilized egg reaches the uterus.

The timing of artificial insemination must be well timed. Generally, it is necessary to measure the basal body temperature for more than 3 cycles or cooperate with continuous cervical mucus and vaginal cytology examination in advance to clarify the ovulation period. If necessary, B-ultrasound examination can be performed to understand ovulation. The most suitable time for artificial insemination is the pre-ovulation period when the cervical mucus secretion is the most. Generally, artificial insemination is performed three times in each menstrual cycle, starting three days before ovulation and done every other day. If calculated by hours, it means once 72 hours, 24 hours before ovulation, and 24 hours after ovulation. If conception cannot be achieved in one menstrual cycle, several cycles can be performed in succession. If necessary, drugs can be used to induce ovulation and adjust the ovulation period to increase the pregnancy rate. For male infertility patients who have failed treatment or have given up treatment, the female partner may consider using assisted reproductive technologies such as artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization for artificial pregnancy.