Acupuncture Research for Infertility
- Influence of acupuncture on the pregnancy rate in patients who undergo assisted reproduction therapy.
- Effects of acupuncture on rates of pregnancy and live birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilisation: systematic review and meta-analysis.
- Acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer significantly improves the reproductive outcome in infertile women: a prospective, randomized trial.
- Effect of acupuncture on the outcome of in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
- Role of acupuncture in the treatment of female infertility.
- The Ancient Art of Infertility Treatment.
Influence of acupuncture on the pregnancy rate in patients who undergo assisted reproduction therapy.
Objective: To evaluate the effect of acupuncture on the pregnancy rate in assisted reproduction therapy (ART) by comparing a group of patients receiving acupuncture treatment shortly before and after embryo transfer with a control group receiving no acupuncture.
Result(s): Clinical pregnancies were documented in 34 of 80 patients (42.5%) in the acupuncture group, whereas pregnancy rate was only 26.3% (21 out of 80 patients) in the control group.
Conclusion(s): Acupuncture seems to be a useful tool for improving pregnancy rate after ART.
Paulus Wolfgang, Mingmin Zhang, Erwin Strehler, Imam El-Danasouri, and Karl Sterzik. Influence of acupuncture on the pregnancy rate in patients who undergo assisted reproduction therapy., Fertility and Sterility, Volume 77, No. 4, April, 2002, pp 721-724.
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Effects of acupuncture on rates of pregnancy and live birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilisation: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Objective: To evaluate whether acupuncture improves rates of pregnancy and live birth when used as an adjuvant treatment to embryo transfer in women undergoing in vitro fertilization.
Data synthesis: Seven trials with 1366 women undergoing in vitro fertilization were included in the meta-analyses. There was little clinical heterogeneity. Trials with sham acupuncture and no adjuvant treatment as controls were pooled for the primary analysis. Complementing the embryo transfer process with acupuncture was associated with significant and clinically relevant improvements in clinical pregnancy (odds ratio 1.65, 95% confidence interval 1.27 to 2.14; number needed to treat (NNT) 10 (7 to 17); seven trials), ongoing pregnancy (1.87, 1.40 to 2.49; NNT 9 (6 to 15); five trials), and live birth (1.91, 1.39 to 2.64; NNT 9 (6 to 17); four trials). Since data was unable to obtained on live births for three of the included trials, the pooled odds ratio for clinical pregnancy more accurately represents the true combined effect from these trials rather than the odds ratio for live birth. The results were robust to sensitivity analyses on study validity variables. A pre-specified subgroup analysis restricted to the three trials with the higher rates of clinical pregnancy in the control group, however, suggested a smaller non-significant benefit of acupuncture (odds ratio 1.24, 0.86 to 1.77).
Conclusion: Current preliminary evidence suggests that acupuncture given with embryo transfer improves rates of pregnancy and live birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilization.
Manheimer E, Zhang G, Udoff L, et al. Effects of acupuncture on rates of pregnancy and live birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilization: systematic review and meta-analysis., British Medical Journal, 2008; 336(7643): pp. 545-549.
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Acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer significantly improves the reproductive outcome in infertile women: a prospective, randomized trial.
Objective: To evaluate the effect of acupuncture on reproductive outcome in patients treated with IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). One group of patients received acupuncture on the day of ET, another group on ET day and again 2 days later (i.e., closer to implantation day), and both groups were compared with a control group that did not receive acupuncture.
Result(s): Clinical and ongoing pregnancy rates were significantly higher in the ACU 1 group as compared with controls (37 of 95 [39%] vs. 21 of 87 [26%] and 34 of 95 [36%] vs. 19 of 87 [22%]). The clinical and ongoing pregnancy rates in the ACU 2 group (36% and 26%) were higher than in controls, but the difference did not reach statistical difference.
Conclusion(s): Acupuncture on the day of ET significantly improves the reproductive outcome of IVF/ICSI, compared with no acupuncture. Repeating acupuncture on ET day +2 provided no additional beneficial effect.
Lars G. Westergaard, Qunhui Mao, Marianne Krogslunda, Steen Sandrinic, Suzan Lenz, Jorgen Grinsted. Acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer significantly improves the reproductive outcome in infertile women: a prospective, randomized trial., Fertility and Sterility, Volume 85, No. 5, May, 2006, pp 1341-1346.
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Effect of acupuncture on the outcome of in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
Objective: To determine the effect of luteal-phase acupuncture on the outcome of IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
Result(s): In group I, the clinical pregnancy rate and ongoing pregnancy rate (33.6% and 28.4%, respectively) were significantly higher than in group II (15.6% and 13.8%).
Conclusions(s): Luteal-phase acupuncture has a positive effect on the outcome of IVF/ICSI.
Dieterle S, Ying G, Hatzmann W, Neuer A. Effect of acupuncture on the outcome of in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection., Fertility and Sterility, Volume 85, No. 5, May, 2006, pp 1347-1351.
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Role of acupuncture in the treatment of female infertility.
Objective: To review existing scientific rationale and clinical data in the utilization of acupuncture in the treatment of female infertility.
Result(s): Although the understanding of acupuncture is based on ancient medical theory, studies have suggested that certain effects of acupuncture are mediated through endogenous opioid peptides in the central nervous system, particularly ß-endorphin. Because these neuropeptides influence gonadotropin secretion through their action on GnRH, it is logical to hypothesize that acupuncture may impact on the menstrual cycle through these neuropeptides. Although studies of adequate design, sample size, and appropriate control on the use of acupuncture on ovulation induction are lacking, there is only one prospective randomized controlled study examining the efficacy of acupuncture in patients undergoing IVF. Besides its central effect, the sympathoinhibitory effects of acupuncture may impact on uterine blood flow.
Conclusion(s): Although the definitive role of acupuncture in the treatment of female infertility is yet to be established, its potential impact centrally on the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis and peripherally on the uterus needs to be systemically examined. Prospective randomized controlled studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture in the female fertility treatment. (Fertil Steril® 2002;78:1149-53. ©2002 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.)
Raymond Chang, M.D.[a,b] Pak H. Chung, M.D.[b] and Zev Rosenwaks, M.D.[c]. Role of acupuncture in the treatment of female infertility., The Institute of East-West Medicine and the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility, 2002.
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The Ancient Art of Infertility Treatment – When it comes to getting pregnant, old world techniques may be just what today’s high-tech doctors will order – Web MD
Excerpt: If headlines are any indication of what’s hot and what’s not, it’s easy to believe that infertility treatment is strictly a modern day science, made possible solely through the courtesy of high-tech medicine.
But as good as modern science is, many couples trying to get pregnant find themselves turning to an age-old treatment for help — one so steeped in tradition it’s about as far from life in the 21st century as one can get.
That treatment is acupuncture, and today, even high-tech reproductive specialists are looking to the somewhat mysterious world of Chinese medicine to help those fertility patients for whom western science alone is not quite enough.
