THURSDAY, Feb. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Women undergoing in vitro
fertilization can increase their chances of becoming pregnant by up to 65
percent if they also have acupuncture, a preliminary study suggests.
About 10 percent to 15 percent of couples have difficulty conceiving, and many
opt for in vitro fertilization, in which a woman's egg is fertilized in a
laboratory and then transferred into her womb. There had been some evidence that
acupuncture can increase the success rate of this procedure.
"Complementing the embryo transfer process with acupuncture seems to increase
the odds of pregnancy by 65 percent, compared to sham acupuncture or no adjuvant
treatment," said lead researcher Eric Manheimer, a research associate at the
University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Integrative Medicine.
For the study, Manheimer's team looked at seven trials that included 1,366 women
undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). Each trial compared acupuncture given
within one day of the embryo transfer, to sham acupuncture or no acupuncture.
The researchers found that women who had acupuncture increased their chances of
becoming pregnant by 65 percent compared with women who had no acupuncture or
sham acupuncture.
"In absolute terms, this means that 10 women would need to be treated with
acupuncture to result in one additional pregnancy," Manheimer said.
However, in studies where pregnancy rates were high, the benefit of acupuncture
was small and non-significant, the researchers noted.
The findings were published online in the Feb. 7 edition of the British Medical
Journal.
"Acupuncture may be useful adjuvant treatment in the IVF process," Manheimer
said. "However, I think there needs to be more studies to confirm these
findings, because they are still preliminary," he added.
One reproduction expert cautioned that it's not clear if acupuncture improves
the success of IVF, with studies showing both that it does and doesn't work.
"I approach this paper with hopefulness. I hope it would be borne out to be true
that acupuncture boosts pregnancy rates," said Dr. Owen K. Davis, co-director
and associate professor at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility
at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City.
There are a lot of IVF patients undergoing acupuncture, relatively few of them
at the suggestion of doctors, Davis said. "More often, it's something they seek
themselves. Obviously, anything that can help our patients is something I'm very
excited about. On the other hand, this study has many flaws," he said.
Davis thinks a large, randomized study is needed to really answer the question.
"I don't think we can say conclusively that acupuncture is effective or is
anywhere near being a standard care, but it's not something I would discourage
someone from trying if they wanted to. But I'm far removed from prescribing it
to patients," he said.
One acupuncturist said the study findings bear out his own experience in using
acupuncture to increase the success of IVF.
"I'm not surprised by these findings," said Dr. Marshall H. Sager, past
president of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture. "I've done acupuncture
and infertility and been successful a number of times."
Sager thinks all women undergoing in vitro fertilization can benefit from
acupuncture. "I think you are increasing the chances of success," he said.
