intrauterine administration of recombinant human chorionic gonadotropin before embryo transfer on outcome of in vitro fertilization/ intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a randomized clinical trial

background: the direct effect of hcg on the human endometrium was studied several times. objective: the objectives of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of intrauterine injection of recombinant human chorionic gonadotropin (rhcg) before embryo transfer (et). materials and methods: in this randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial, a total number of 182 infertile patients undergoing their first in vitro fertilization/ intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ivf-icsi) cycles were randomly assigned to receive 250μg intrauterine rhcg (n=84) or placebo (n=98) before et. the implantation and pregnancy rates were compared between groups. results: patients who received intrauterine rhcg before et had significantly higher implantation (36.9% vs. 22.4%; p=0.035), clinical pregnancy rates (34.5% vs. 20.4%; p=0.044) and ongoing pregnancy rate (32.1% vs. 18.4%; p=0.032) when compared to those who received placebo. the abortion (2.4% vs. 2.0%; p=0.929) and ectopic pregnancy rates (1.2% vs. 1.0%; p=0.976) were comparable between groups of rhcg and placebo, respectively. conclusion: intrauterine injection of 250μg of rhcg before et significantly improves the implantation and pregnancy rates in ivf/icsi cycles