Influence of acupuncture on pregnancy rates in women undergoing in vitro fertilization

IntroductionIn recent years acupuncture has been used more and more often as an adjuvant infertility treatment. The first reports on the use of acupuncture in the infertility treatment were published in 1960. Many articles have been published about the effect of acupuncture on assisted reproductive techniques but the clinical significance of this technique is still controversial.AimTo evaluate the influence of acupuncture on the clinical pregnancy rate in infertility treatment by comparing a group of patients, who underwent acupuncture treatment during stimulation and/or before and after embryo transfer (ET) with a control group without acupuncture.Material and methodsPatients who were undergoing in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment were divided into three groups through no random selection: (1) acupuncture during stimulation and on the day of ET; (2) acupuncture only on the day of ET; (3) control group treated only standard protocol, without acupuncture. Acupuncture was performed on 148 patients during stimulation and before and after ET. In the second group 142 patients received acupuncture only on the day of ET. In the control group (142 patients), embryos were transferred without acupuncture. Clinical pregnancy was defined as the presence of a fetal sac during an ultrasound examination 6–8 weeks after ET.Results and discussionClinical pregnancies were documented in 66 patients (44.6%) in the first group, 55 patients (38.7%) in the second group and 50 (35.2%) in the control group.ConclusionsThere was no significant difference in the clinical pregnancy rate between groups; however, a small influence of acupuncture treatment effect cannot be excluded.