Intrauterine culture
Treatment add-on with limited evidence
For most patients, having a routine cycle of proven fertility treatment is effective without using any treatment add-ons.
Red
Intrauterine culture is rated red because there is no evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to show that it is effective at improving the chances of having a baby for most fertility patients.
What does this traffic light rating mean?
Our traffic-light rated list of add-ons consists of three colours that indicate whether the evidence, in the form of high-quality RCTs, shows that a treatment add-on is effective at improving the chances of having a baby for most fertility patients.
We give a red symbol for an add-on where there is no evidence from RCTs to show that it is effective at improving your chances of having a baby for most fertility patients.
The January 2019 consensus statement (PDF) between the HFEA and ten other professional and patient bodies agreed that treatments that have no strong evidence of their safety and/or effectiveness should only be offered in a research setting. Patients should not be charged extra to take part in research, including clinical trials.
For specific patient groups there may be reasons for the use of a treatment add-on other than improving your chances of having a baby. In these situations, it may be appropriate for you to be offered a treatment add-on as part of your treatment and not in a research setting.
Our traffic light ratings only indicate the effectiveness of a treatment add-on, at improving your chances of having a baby. Specific safety concerns about a treatment add-on are included under the dedicated section ‘Is this treatment add-on safe?’
What is intrauterine culture?
During a conventional IVF cycle, eggs are fertilised and allowed to develop in a special culture fluid inside an incubator. Intrauterine culture differs in that it allows the early stages of embryo development to take place within the patient’s womb.
As with conventional IVF, eggs and sperm are collected and prepared. The eggs are fertilised and placed in an intrauterine culture device, which is inserted into the patient’s womb.
The device stays in place for several hours during the initial stages of embryo development. When the device is removed, the embryos are put in an incubator until they are ready to be transferred back to the womb or frozen for use in future treatment.
Of note, the womb is not the place in the body where the embryo would normally develop at this stage so is only able to mimic the natural environment to some extent. Normally the embryo would be developing in the ‘fallopian’ tube which connects the ovary to the womb.
What’s the evidence for intrauterine culture?
There’s currently no evidence to show that intrauterine culture is effective at improving your chances of having a baby. This is something you may wish to consider if you are offered intrauterine culture.
At the October 2018 and June 2020 Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee (SCAAC) meetings the Committee evaluated the evidence base for intrauterine culture. Minutes of this discussion and the evidence used to inform this discussion are available on the SCAAC webpage.
Is this treatment add-on safe?
Intrauterine culture does not carry any additional known risks for the person undergoing fertility treatment or the child born as a result of fertility treatment. However, there is very little research available into these possible risks.
If you have any questions about the safety and risks, your clinic will be able to discuss whether a treatment add-on would be safe for you to use considering your specific medical history and circumstances.
What are treatment add-ons?
- optional additional treatments, also referred to as ‘supplementary’, ‘adjuvants’ or ‘embryology treatments’.
- often claim to be effective at improving the chances of having a baby (live birth rate) but the evidence to support this for most fertility patients is usually missing or not very reliable.
- likely to involve an additional cost on top of the cost of a routine cycle of proven fertility treatment. Some treatment add-ons can cost hundreds or thousands of pounds each.
It is important to keep in mind that for most patients, having a routine cycle of proven fertility treatment is effective without using any treatment add-ons. If you are paying directly for your own treatment, you may want to think about whether it might be more effective and/or affordable to pay for multiple routine proven treatment cycles, rather than spending large sums of money on a single treatment cycle with treatment add-ons that haven’t been proven to be effective at increasing the likelihood of you having a baby.
We aim to publish clear and reliable information about some of the treatment add-ons that don’t have enough evidence, from high-quality randomised control trials (RCTs), to show that they are effective at improving your chances of having a baby.
To make it easier to understand the scientific evidence for each treatment add-on we have developed our traffic-light rated list of add-ons.
Review date: 8 April 2024
