"Doctor, I have been told to take Placentrex injections for my thin lining. Should I?" "After my miscarriage, I was advised placenta extract injections in the next pregnancy. Will they help?" These are questions I am asked often, and searches for Placentrex on my website keep rising, and the Hindi searches have roughly doubled in recent weeks.
I don't prescribe placental extract injections for infertility, a thin endometrium or miscarriage prevention. This article explains why, as plainly and fairly as I can, so that you can have an informed conversation with your own doctor.
What is Placentrex injection?
Placentrex is a brand of human placental extract: an aqueous extract prepared from human placenta, given by injection into the muscle. Placental extracts have a long history in traditional and Soviet-era "tissue therapy", and they are believed to have anti-inflammatory and healing effects.
In India, it is prescribed for several conditions, including wound healing and some inflammatory conditions. It is also widely suggested in fertility and pregnancy care: for a thin womb lining, before or during IVF, after a miscarriage, or to "support" a pregnancy.
What does the research actually show?
On 22 October 2026, I searched PubMed, the main database of medical research, using two searches:
- "placentrex OR (human placental extract AND (endometrium OR infertility OR IVF OR intrauterine insemination))", which returned 78 results
- "'placental extract' in the title or abstract AND (endometrium OR infertility OR recurrent implantation failure OR pregnancy)", which returned 189 results
I found no randomised trial showing that placental extract increases pregnancy or live birth rates, improves the womb lining in a way that leads to more babies, or reduces miscarriage.
What I did find:
| Area | What was studied | Type of evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Oral submucous fibrosis (a mouth condition) | Placentrex injections into the affected tissue | Small randomised and comparative trials |
| Gum and periodontal disease | Placental extract gel; tooth storage | Small clinical and laboratory studies |
| Radiation mouth ulcers in cancer treatment | Placental extract injections | Small clinical study |
| Pelvic inflammatory disease | Placentrex injections added to antibiotics (AIIMS, 100 women, 2010) | One randomised trial; measured symptoms, not pregnancies |
| Fertility, PCOS, the ovary, the testis | Placental extracts in rats and other animals | Laboratory and animal studies only |
So the human evidence lies mostly outside fertility. The one gynaecological trial measured pelvic pain and tenderness, not pregnancies, and the fertility evidence lies mostly outside humans.
What do guidelines say?
No international fertility or pregnancy guideline that I know of, from ESHRE, ASRM, NICE, RCOG or FOGSI, recommends placental extract for infertility, a thin endometrium or the prevention of miscarriage.
ESHRE's 2022 guideline on recurrent pregnancy loss and its 2023 recommendations on recurrent implantation failure both take a clear line: treatments without evidence of benefit should not be offered routinely.
Why is it still prescribed?
I don't believe colleagues who prescribe it act in bad faith. A woman with a thin lining or a painful loss wants something done, and a course of injections feels like action. It is familiar, it is available, and it rarely causes obvious harm.
But "rarely harmful" is not the same as "helpful". A course of injections costs money, clinic visits and, most of all, hope. And any product made from human tissue is not a neutral substance, even when its safety record is reassuring.
Is placental extract safe?
Placental extracts have been used in India for decades, and serious side effects are not commonly reported, though careful safety studies are few. The usual effects are pain at the injection site and, occasionally, allergic reactions. But "uncommon side effects" answers a different question from "does it work?". Every treatment in pregnancy should first show that it helps, and only then that it is safe enough to be worth it.
There is also a practical cost. A course often means repeated clinic visits for injections over weeks, at a time when a couple is already stretched by appointments, scans and worry.
How can you judge any fertility add-on?
Placental extract is one of many treatments offered to couples "just in case". The same three questions work for all of them:
- What outcome did it improve? A live birth is the outcome that matters. A thicker lining on a scan, a better hormone level or a "positive test" are not the same thing.
- In what kind of study? A randomised trial, where some women receive the treatment and some do not, is the fair test. A doctor's experience, a before-and-after comparison or an animal study is not enough to justify routine use.
- What does it cost, in money and in time? Even a harmless treatment takes something from a couple: savings, visits, and months of hope.
If the answers are "a scan number", "no trial" and "a lot", it is reasonable to ask for a different plan.
A note on miscarriage and hope
Most single miscarriages happen because the embryo had a chromosome error, and most women go on to have a healthy pregnancy without any treatment at all. The Lancet's 2021 review estimated that about 15% of recognised pregnancies end in miscarriage, while only about 2% of women have two and under 1% have three or more. That background matters: when a woman takes an injection in her next pregnancy and it goes well, it is natural to credit the injection, even though the pregnancy would very likely have gone well anyway. This is exactly why we need trials.
What does help a thin lining or recurrent loss?
For a thin endometrium, the evidence supports looking for a cause and adjusting the plan:
- checking the cycle day of the measurement, since the lining is naturally thin early in the cycle
- looking for scarring inside the womb (Asherman syndrome) with a hysteroscopy when the history suggests it
- adjusting the estrogen dose, timing or type of cycle before an embryo transfer
Large studies show that the chance of a baby rises with lining thickness up to about 9 mm and then levels off, with no sharp cut-off below which pregnancy is impossible. A thin lining lowers the chance; it does not end it.
After miscarriage, evaluation looks at the things with evidence: thyroid function and antibodies, blood sugar, antiphospholipid antibodies, the shape of the womb, and, where available, testing of the pregnancy tissue.
How I approach this in my practice
When a woman comes to me already advised placental extract, I don't criticise the doctor who suggested it. I ask what outcome it was meant to improve, and I explain what I could and could not find in the research.
Then I put the effort where there is evidence: confirming whether the lining is truly thin and why, correcting thyroid and sugar, treating a uterine cause, and planning the transfer carefully. For miscarriage, I offer a focused evaluation, even after a single loss as a shared decision, because in India it costs far less than the emotional toll of waiting.
Hope deserves treatments that have been tested.
What should you ask your doctor?
- What is this injection expected to improve: live birth, pregnancy rate, or the thickness on a scan?
- Is there a trial showing that benefit?
- What else should be checked first, such as thyroid, sugar, the inside of the womb, or the embryo?
- What does the full course cost, and what would you do if it doesn't help?
Please don't stop any medicine you are already taking without speaking to the doctor who prescribed it.
Frequently asked questions
What is Placentrex injection?
An injectable extract of human placenta, used in India for wound healing and some inflammatory conditions, and often suggested in fertility care.
Does Placentrex help you get pregnant?
A PubMed search found no randomised trial showing more pregnancies or live births with it.
Is Placentrex useful for a thin endometrium?
There is no trial evidence that it improves live birth in women with a thin lining.
Does Placentrex prevent miscarriage?
No trial has shown that it reduces miscarriage, and guidelines do not recommend it for this.
Placentrex injection: Hindi-English FAQ
Placentrex injection kya hai?
Placentrex insaani placenta se banaya gaya extract hai, jo injection ke roop mein diya jaata hai.
Kya Placentrex injection se pregnancy mein madad milti hai?
Research mein aisa koi randomised trial nahi mila jo dikhaye ki isse pregnancy ya live birth badhti hai.
Kya patli endometrium (thin lining) ke liye Placentrex lena chahiye?
Iska koi trial evidence nahi hai ki isse baby hone ki sambhavna badhti hai. Pehle ye dekhna zaroori hai ki lining patli kyun hai.
Miscarriage ke baad Placentrex lena chahiye?
Guidelines ise miscarriage rokne ke liye recommend nahi karti. Miscarriage ke baad thyroid, sugar, antibodies aur bachchedani ki jaanch zyada kaam ki hai.
Sources
- PubMed searches run on 22 October 2026 (terms and result counts as stated above). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
- Goyal, et al. Comparative assessment of intralesional placentrex, hyaluronidase and dexamethasone in oral submucous fibrosis: a randomized controlled trial. Med Int (Lond) 2024. https://doi.org/10.3892/mi.2024.143
- Prasad, et al. Intramuscular human placental extract in radiation-induced oral mucositis. J Cancer Res Ther 2023. https://doi.org/10.4103/jcrt.jcrt_2017_22
- ESHRE Guideline Group on RPL. Recurrent pregnancy loss: an update in 2022. Hum Reprod Open 2023;2023:hoad002. https://doi.org/10.1093/hropen/hoad002
- ESHRE Working Group on RIF. Good practice recommendations on recurrent implantation failure. Hum Reprod Open 2023;2023:hoad023. https://doi.org/10.1093/hropen/hoad023
- Schmiech K, et al. Endometrial thickness and live birth, SART CORS. Fertil Steril 2025;124:79-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2024.12.032
- Quenby S, et al. Miscarriage matters. Lancet 2021;397:1658-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00682-6
- Agarwal N, Kulshrestha V, Kriplani A. Clinical efficacy of placentrex injection in pelvic inflammatory disease. J Indian Med Assoc 2010;108(2):117-8, 122. PubMed 20839572 (no DOI).