The Effects of Endometrial Scratch on Pregnancy Rate in IUI Cycles

Objectives: Infertility is considered as a major issue all over the world. All the studies in this field focus on how to develop successful methods of turning infertile couples into fertile ones. Endometrial mechanical injury in order to augment the probability of implantation of embryo and pregnancy rate has been particularly noted in recent years. Considering the controversies in the use of methods and results of the previous studies, we decided to compare the pregnancy and abortion rates in the intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles with and without intervention, by employing a new method. Materials and Methods: This interventional study was performed on 150 infertile couples who referred to the infertility treatment clinic of Al-Zahra hospital, Tabriz (from April 2016 to March 2017) and were randomly divided into two groups. The IUI procedure was carried out in the first group after the endometrial scratch on the first to fifth days of the menstrual cycle, while the control group underwent only IUI without any intervention. The pregnancy and abortion rates were compared in study groups. Results: Pregnancy rate in the intervention group was significantly higher compared to the control group. No relationship was observed between the abortion rate and the intervention. There was no statistically significant difference between type and cause of infertility, maternal age and body mass index (BMI), duration of infertility, number of dominant follicles and pregnancy or abortion rates. Conclusions: The endometrial scratching performed on the first to fifth days of the menstrual cycle, preceding IUI procedure, leads to a significant increase in pregnancy rate. On the other hand, this method can be employed with lower costs in comparison to other fertilization methods.