To scratch or not to scratch?

[Bookbroad]

Has anyone had any success from endometrial scratching? We've had 2 failed transfers and this is one of the options our clinic has put on the table for our third, along with immune testing. HFEA doesn't seem to imply that either of these things will make much difference - anyone got any experience they'd be happy to share? Many thanks.

[Rfletcher]

This is exactly the same question I asked a couple of weeks ago. Everyone that replied said yea, it is worth it.

I had one fail, then we had my little boy but I have had 2 fails since then so they have now offered it to me as well.

Feel free to look at my page and all of the answers I received.

Good luck.

Xxx

[Bookbroad in reply to Rfletcher]

Thanks so much!

[Cinderella5]

There was a big study done by Sheffield with lots of the centres in the UK. They couldnt find any benefit to doing the scratch but I guess you need to weigh it up yourself. I did the scratch a few times and it didnt help me. Good luck.xx

sheffield.ac.uk/scharr/rese...

[hifer]

I had a scratch and that round was successful. However we did lots of new things that round too (prolonged progesterone, different drug protocol, different embryo - obvs). I think it’s almost impossible to tell if it was the scratch or not! Sorry to not be more help x

[Bookbroad in reply to hifer]

Thanks Hifer. I guess that’s the thing, we’ll be adding it to a lot of changes too but suspect it’s worth throwing everything at it. Was the scratch painful? The idea of it really freaks me out

[hifer in reply to Bookbroad]

Hi there, no I really didn’t find it painful. I’ve had so many IVF procedures though! Also I think everyone’s pain levels are different. Good luck for your transfer xx

[KnittingNeedles]

After 3 implantation failures I had the scratch. The first one with the scratch was a positive test then miscarriage. The second time with the scratch was positive and I’m just over 30 weeks. The only thing is, other things were added to my protocol (baby aspirin, clexane, prednisone, Prolutex injections, ERA timing), so I can’t say it was the thing that made the difference, but I guess I can say that at a minimum it clearly didn’t cause any harm to try.

[Bookbroad in reply to KnittingNeedles]

Congrats and Thanks for your message. As you say no harm in trying and want to throw as much as this next transfer as I can. Thanks you. One question, did you have the NK biopsy testing before you were given prednisone? We’ve also been offered this test but I’ve been advised that the clinic would be reluctant to provide treatment if anything came up because suppressing my immune system during omicron wouldn’t be advised. Also The idea of the biopsy terrifies me but wasn’t sure if prednisone could be added in without further testing? Guessing not?

[KnittingNeedles in reply to Bookbroad]

I had NK cell testing, but it was via a blood test. All of my immune testing was done via blood test. Everything came back “normal” including the NK cells (those were on the higher end but were still within normal range). The clinic put me on all of it anyway as an “it can’t hurt” strategy since I had had so many implantation failures. Maybe you could find a place that does the blood test for it instead of the biopsy? I’m in the U.S. and used a fertility clinic and also a place called LabCorp for that. The only biopsy I had was for the ERA test. I hope you find the answers you need, I know what a struggle this is!

[Bookbroad in reply to KnittingNeedles]

Oh really! That’s incredibly helpful thank you. I’ll look into that. Yes the struggle is real isn’t it, I was so naive and now all these words that I skimmed over ‘lupion’, ‘NK cells’ etc become relevant.