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Because each cycle is expensive, lengthy, and
stressful, new drugs and technologies have been developed to improve success
rates, but progress has been limited.
However, acupuncture has been used in China for centuries to regulate the female
reproductive system. So researchers at the University of Maryland School of
Medicine and the VU University Amsterdam set out to determine whether
acupuncture given with embryo transfer improves the rates of pregnancy and live
birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilisation.
They reviewed seven trials involving 1,366 women undergoing in vitro
fertilisation. The trials compared acupuncture, administered within one day of
the embryo transfer procedure, with sham acupuncture or no additional treatment.
The overall quality of the trials was good and included a broad selection of
women at various ages and with different causes and durations of infertility.
Complementing the embryo transfer process with acupuncture increased the odds of
pregnancy by 65% compared to sham acupuncture or no additional treatment. In
absolute terms, this means that 10 women would need to be treated with
acupuncture to bring about one additional pregnancy.
In trials where the baseline pregnancy rates were already high, the benefit of
acupuncture was smaller and non-significant.
Although still somewhat preliminary, this review suggests that acupuncture given
with embryo transfer can improve rates of pregnancy and live birth among women
undergoing in vitro fertilisation, say the authors.
In vitro fertilisation is an expensive procedure, costing an average of $12,400
per cycle in the United States, they add. So, even if the increased likelihood
of success with acupuncture was small, it may still be cost-effective.
They call for further studies to confirm these preliminary findings and to
investigate the relation between baseline rate of pregnancy and the
effectiveness of additional acupuncture.
Contact:
Eric Manheimer, Research Associate, Center for Integrative Medicine, University
of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
Tel: +1 410 448 6890; Mobile: +1 410 790 6021
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