Medical information

Ovulation Induction and Insemination

• You will be provided with a prescription, including repeats, for your ovulatory stimulant.
  
  
• Telephone rooms (9416 2470) to book your follicle scan when your period starts. You would have been told the day of your cycle to request before starting treatment.
  
  
• When you have your follicle scan you will be instructed when , how often, and for how long to use a home ovulation prediction kit to see if you are about to ovulate spontaneously. Rescan after 4 days if no LH surge detected on urine test.
  
  
• A “trigger” injection of HCG (cost of this included in global fee) to induce ovulation is given if there are good sized follicles and no LH surge.
  
  
• Insemination will be performed the day after LH surge is detected, or 38 to 42 hours after 'trigger' injection of HCG.
  
  
• Blood test (serum progesterone) will be performed one week after insemination to confirm that you have ovulated if you surge spontaneously and no trigger injection is requried (the cost of this is included in your global fee).
  
  
• A serum pregnancy test will be performed 2 weeks after ovulation.
  
  
• If your period comes, you can start another treatment cycle straight away, if you wish to do so (as long as there are no “out of pocket” costs outstanding from your previous cycle). 'Out of pocket' costs need to be paid prior to starting injections. this can be done by phone.
  
  
• Luteal phase support will be provided with progesterone pessaries for 14 days after insemination if ovulation needs to be "triggered" with HCG (cost of these is included in global fee).
  
  
• The chance of conceiving in a treatment cycle is between 5% and 10% depending on the quality of sperm, the number of good sized follicles produced, the age of the female partner, and the presence or absence of pelvic pathology such as endometriosis.
  
  
• There is a 20% risk of multiple pregnancy (usually twins, rarely triplets) which is why a treatment cycle will be cancelled if there will be more than 3 follicles with a diameter greater than 16mm at the time of ovulation.
  
  
• Finally, if you anticipate that there may be problems with obtaining a fresh semen sample on the day of insemination, consideration should be given to frozen sperm storage through the Andrology Laboratory at The Royal Women’s Hospital ($210 per annum).