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