Artificial Insemination and twins are two concepts that go together many times. The demand of assisted reproduction treatments gradually increases year after year for different reasons such as the delay in maternal age or an increasing number of infertility male and female cases. As a result of this demand an increased number of twins were observed. The possibility of a pregnancy with twins in a natural way is 1 out of every 80 pregnancies while using assisted reproduction techniques the probability increases considerably.
Artificial Insemination and twins
A pregnant woman using artificial insemination techniques has more possibilities of getting pregnant with twins than a woman who becomes pregnant in a traditional way; in fact 10% of pregnancies by using artificial insemination obtain twins. Why artificial insemination and twins are so closely linked?
Why artificial insemination and twins are so closely linked?
Assisted reproduction techniques imply that there are different procedures to utilize in order to obtain optimal fertilisation conditions.
- Ovarian stimulation: In this phase the patient is given an hormonal treatment to stimulate the female ovary achieving the creation of different follicles and more oocytes. In this way the patient who is subjected to artificial insemination has more eggs when fertilized therefore more gestation options.
- Selection of the sperm sample. For artificial insemination the sperm sample is processed in the laboratory and spermatozoon’s of better quality are selected. This is one of the reasons that explains why artificial insemination and twins are related.
What are the consequences of having a multiple pregnancy?
Even if a pregnancy with twins can have some risks, they are minimal and there is a little percentage of complications, the pregnancy passes normally. Some contraindications of a pregnancy with twins are:
- An increased risk of high blood pressure and gestational diabetes.
- An higher rate of a cesarean delivery.
- Higher possibility of premature fetus
