Acupuncture in Assisted Reproduction (IVF)
In the last few years the use of acupuncture in infertility
treatments, including the assisted reproduction treatments (IVF) has
attracted a lot of attention. Such prestigious medical journals as
“Fertility and Sterility” (USA) and “Human Reproduction” (European
Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology) have dedicated pages to
this topic. The studies published in these two publications show that
acupuncture can help women who undergo fertility treatments to conceive.
One of these studies has been headed by Dr Wolfgang Paulus and its
results were published in 2002. Paulus and his colleagues studied 160
women undergoing in vitro fertilization. Half received standard
assisted fertilization protocol, while the other half received
acupuncture treatments immediately before and after the embryo
transfer. The authors have chosen points that increase the blood flow
to the uterus and relax it, according to the principles of traditional
Chinese medicine. According to the authors, “The analysis shows that
the pregnancy rate for the acupuncture group is considerably higher
than for the control group (42.5% vs. 26.3%)… Acupuncture seems to be a
useful tool for improving pregnancy rate after ART.”
In Sweden, Elisabet Stener-Victorin and her team have been studying
the use of acupuncture as pain relief during the extraction of the
oocytes in IVF. The study has provided unexpected results. Not only did
acupuncture showed its analgesic effects, but the group that received
acupuncture had a higher implantation rate than the control group. The
study was published in October 1999 in “Human Reproduction”, the
journal of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology.
Another study published in “Fertility and Sterility” in April 2004
was carried out by P. C. Magarelli and D. K. Cridennda. This was a
retrospective study that looked at the case histories of 147 patients
with bad IVF prognosis (elevated FSH, a long history of infertility,
bad sperm morphology, etc.) in various infertility clinics and
acupuncture centres between January 2001 and November 2003. The
pregnancy rate was 52% for the women who were undergoing acupuncture
treatments in conjunction with preparation for IVF, and 38% for those
who did not have acupuncture. P. C. Magarelli, D. K. Cridennda and M.
Cohen also gave a presentation, “Acupuncture and good prognosis IVF
patients: synergy”, at the annual meeting of the American Society of
Reproductive Medicine in April 2004. In this case, the investigators
compared two groups of IVF patients without serious impediments to
fertility. In the first (acupuncture) group of 53 women 51% became
pregnant, compared with the second (no acupuncture) group of 61 women,
of which 36% became pregnant.
In May 2006, “Fertility and Sterility” published the results of
three studies on acupuncture in assisted reproduction: by Westergaard
L.G. et al. (Denmark), Dieterle S. et al. (Germany) and Smith C. et al.
(Australia).
The first study found a significant difference between the group of
women who received acupuncture immediately before and after embryo
transfer, and the other group that did not. The acupuncture group
achieved a 39% pregnancy rate, as compared to 26% in the no-acupuncture
group. The first group also had a higher ongoing pregnancy rate.
The results of the other two studies also showed the positive effect of acupuncture on IVF outcome.
References
- Chang
R, Chung PH, Rosenwaks Z (2002) Role of acupuncture in the treatment of
female infertility. Fertility and Sterility 78(6): 1149-53
- Dieterle
S, et al Effect of acupuncture on the outcome of in vitro fertilization
and intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a randomized, prospective,
controlled clinical study
Fertility and Sterility Volume 85, Issue 5 , May 2006, Pages 1347-1351
- Magarelli
PC, Cridennda DK, Cohen M (2004) Acupuncture and good prognosis IVF
patients: synergy. American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual
meeting, Philadelphia.
- Magarelli PC, Cridennda DK (2004) Acupuncture and IVF poor responders: a cure? Fertility and Sterility 81 (April): Suppl 3.
- Paulus
WE, Zhang MM, Strehler E, El-Danasouri I, Sterzik K (2002) Influence on
the pregnancy rate in patients who undergo assisted reproduction
therapy. Fertility and Sterility 77(4):721-4
- Smith C, et al Influence of acupuncture stimulation on pregnancy rates for women undergoing embryo transfer
Fertility and Sterility Volume 85, Issue 5 , May 2006, Pages 1352-1358
- Stener-Victorin
E, Waldenstrom U, Nilsson L, Wikland M et al (1999)
A prospective randomized study of electro-acupuncture versus alfentanil
as anaesthesia during oocyte aspiration in in-vitro fertilization.
Human Reproduction 14(10):2480-4
- Stener-Victorin
E, Waldenstrom U, Wikland M, Nilsson L et al (2003) Electro-acupuncture
as a peroperative analgesic method and its effects on implantation rate
and neuropeptide Y concentrations in follicular fluid. Human
Reproduction 18(7): 1454-60
- Stener-Victorin
E, Wikland M, Waldenstrom U, Lundeberg T (2002) Alternative treatments
in reproductive medicine: Much ado about nothing: Lack of evidence of
an effect does not equal evidence of the lack of an effect. Human
Reproduction 17(8): 1942-6
- Westergaard
LG, et.al, Acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer (ET) significantly
improves the reproductive outcome in infertile women: a prospective,
randomized trial. Fertility and Sterility Volume 85, Issue 5 , May
2006, Pages 1341-1346
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