Washington: Scratching the inside of the womb before conceiving a baby could increase your chances of having an IVF baby, research suggests.
But researchers have urged caution over the findings of the study, saying there is insufficient evidence to consider it for women.
There was not much evidence to recommend such a step to ordinary couples who want to give birth naturally.
The study was conducted by researchers from the Cochrane collaboration, which assesses medical evidence to inform policy makers.
Based on the trials analysed, it found that endometrial scratch roughly doubled the chance of live birth compared with no intervention.
A review of eight trials with a total of 1180 women were included in the Cochrane review, in which endometrial scratching was compared to no intervention or a mock intervention. The primary outcomes were live birth/ongoing pregnancy and pain from the intervention.
Following analysis, endometrial scratching appeared to increase the chance of clinical pregnancy and live birth compared to no procedure or a placebo procedure; the difference in outcome was statistically significant and appeared to roughly double the chance of live birth compared to no intervention.
Researcher Sarah Lensen from the University of Auckland explained that endometrial scratching would increase the normal chance of a live birth or ongoing pregnancy from 9% over a set period of time to somewhere between 14 and 28 %.
However, the quality of the studies from which the result was derived was described as "very low-quality". "The results must be treated with caution," said Lensen, as most of the included trials were associated with a serious risk of bias.
There was no evidence that endometrial scratching has any effect on miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or multiple pregnancy. Pain during the scratch procedure was reported by one study as an average of 6/10.
Lensen described endometrial scratching as "a cheap and simple procedure" which can be conducted without analgesia during a short clinic visit; it does, however, require an internal examination which is associated with pain and discomfort.
The study is presented at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.
(With Agency input)
