An add-on treatment commonly offered to female IVF patients to improve their chance of success has been shown in a large randomized trial to be of no value. ‘Endometrial scratch,’ a technique whereby a small scratch or tissue biopsy is made to the lining of the uterus prior to IVF, was associated with no improvements in pregnancy or live birth rates, and should, say an international team of investigators, be abandoned as a procedure by fertility clinics.