Multiple pregnancies conceived with intrauterine insemination during superovulation: an evaluation of clinical characteristics and monitored parameters of conception cycles

Abstract

The use of human menopausal gonadotropins to induce superovulation in conjunction with intrauterine insemination as treatment for infertility is associated with an increased incidence of multiple gestation. Identification of clinical characteristics and/or monitored parameters of the stimulation cycles highly associated with multiple gestation would enable cancellation of these cycles. We retrospectively evaluated the clinical profiles and conception cycle characteristics of 48 infertile women undergoing the induction of superovulation and intrauterine insemination. We compared 14 of these women who conceived multiple gestations (eight twins and six triplets) with 34 who conceived singleton gestations. We found no differences between the groups in age, parity, cause or duration of infertility, duration or amount of human menopausal gonadotropin administration, serum estradiol concentrations on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin injection, number of preovulatory-sized follicles, or number of motile sperm inseminated. We conclude that neither the patients' clinical characteristics nor the parameters evaluated in monitoring human menopausal gonadotropin cycles provide information helpful in predicting which superovulation cycles will result in multiple pregnancy