Objective: To determine if the accurate prediction of ovulation before artificial insemination of frozen donor semen was justified by increased pregnancy rates.
Design: A retrospective study of inseminations, over a 2-year period, administered to women who were enrolled on a donor insemination program and who were monitored using one of four ovulation timing regimens. Also, a study of the significance of follicle status at the time of insemination with relevance to pregnancy was carried out.
Setting: A university teaching hospital donor insemination program.
Patients: Patients entered in this study were undergoing insemination with thawed, cryopreserved, donor semen.
Main outcome measures: Pregnancy and follicle status at the time of insemination.
Results: There was no statistically significant difference in pregnancy rates between the four methods of ovulation detection most commonly used for artificial insemination. Inseminations several hours either side of ovulation did not result in a significantly different pregnancy rate than inseminations carried out closer to ovulation.
Conclusion: More accurate and expensive methods of detecting changes in ovulation result in no significant increase in fecundity than other less expensive timing techniques.