the effect of intercourse around embryo transfer on pregnancy rate in assisted reproductive technology cycles

background: implantation failure is the most important cause of recurrent in vitro fertilization/intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ivf/icsi) failure. several reports suggest that intercourse during the peritransfer period might improve pregnancy rates. this study is designed to determine whether intercourse during the peritransfer period will improve pregnancy and implantation rates in patients undergoing ivf or icsi. materials and methods: in a randomized control trial study, 390 women with at least five years infertility were evaluated. in the study group, 195 patients had intercourse at least once 12 hours after embryo transfer. implantation and clinical pregnancy rates were compared with 195 patients in the control group who had no intercourse for the entire assisted reproductive technology (art) cycle. results: implantation rate in the study group was 6.5% in comparison with 5.5% for the control group. clinical pregnancy rates were not significantly higher in study patients when compared to the control group (14.2% and 11.7% respectively). conclusion: the results showed that intercourse during the peritransfer period can not increase pregnancy outcome.