Much media interest in endometrial scratching review

Our review on Endometrial injury for pregnancy following sexual intercourse or intrauterine insemination was published on 14 June. 

From the Plain language summary:

The results from the included studies suggest a beneficial effect of endometrial injury on the chance of getting pregnant, but the studies are associated with many significant limitations. Therefore, it is not possible to say with any confidence whether endometrial injury can increase the probability of pregnancy. We are uncertain whether endometrial injury increases the probability of a live birth or a pregnancy beyond 12 weeks.

The endometrial injury procedure is a common procedure and is known to cause a degree of temporary pain or discomfort. Only one included study reported on whether the women experienced pain during the procedure, and the average pain experienced was six out of 10 on a visual scale from zero to 10. Endometrial injury does not seem to have an effect on miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or multiple pregnancy. No studies reported bleeding after the procedure.

The quality of the evidence was low or very low as assessed using GRADE criteria. In general, the studies included in this review were not very well designed and did not recruit a high enough number of women to provide meaningful results. This means the results must be treated cautiously, and further studies are needed to confirm the findings. There remains uncertainty about whether or not the endometrial injury procedure increases the probability of having a baby.