The comparison between Intrauterine Insemination and Fallopian Tube Sperm Perfusion Using FAST® System in Patients with Unexplained Infertility

Background: Controlled ovarian stimulation (COH) with intrauterine insemination (IUI) is commonly offered to infertile couples with patent fallopian tubes because it is simple, non-invasive and cost-effective technique. Another non-invasive method is fallopian tube sperm perfusion (FSP). This study was performed to compare the relative efficacy between FSP using fallopian sperm transfer (FAST) system and standard IUI in patients with unexplained infertility. Materials and Methods: This prospective randomized study was conducted at the IVF Unit, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran, from March 2011 to February 2012. A total of ninety patients with unexplained infertility underwent ovarian stimulation with clomiphene citrate and human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG). Patients were then randomly assigned into either group I (n=45) to undergo standard IUI or group II (n=45) to undergo FSP using FAST system. Results: The patients’ basic characteristics, including age, primary infertility and duration of infertility, were not significantly different between two study groups. In the group I, there were 9 pregnancies (a pregnancy rate per cycle of 20%), whereas in the group II, 8 pregnancies occurred (a pregnancy rate per cycle of 17.8%, p > 0.05). Conclusion: FSP using FAST system offers no advantage over the standard IUI in order to increase pregnancy rate in patients with unexplained infertility.