Factors affecting the success of donor insemination

Of 81 women who completed six ovulatory cycles of properly timed donor insemination using freshly ejaculated semen, 65 (80%) conceived. The mean sperm concentration and motility in cycles of conception were 79.5 million/ml and 69%. In cycles where conception did not occur, the mean sperm concentration and motility were 78.4 million/ml and 67%, values similar to those in cycles of conception. There was also no significant difference between conception and nonconception cycles in the following: number of inseminations per cycle (2.43 versus 2.34), percentage of cycles with a preovulatory fall in basal temperature (35.1% versus 45.4%), maximum spinnbarkeit (5.6 versus 5.2 cm), and the interval between basal temperature nadir and maximum spinnbarkeit (0 versus 0.1 days). The distribution of inseminations in relation to the basal temperature nadir was similar in conception to that of nonconception cycles. Sixteen women (20%) did not conceive, and there was an apparent explanation in 3 of these: 1 was occasionally anovulatory during several cycles; 1 had no intraperitoneal passage of CO2; and 1 of 3 women who underwent laparoscopy had peritubal adhesions.