Clinical efficacy of acupuncture plus letrozole for ovulatory disorder infertility

Abstract

Objective To study clinical efficacy of acupuncture plus letrozole for treatment of ovulatory disorder infertility. Methods From January 2014 to January 2016, a total of 60 cases of ovulatory disorder infertility patients who received treatment in Shanghai Ninth People′s Hospital (South Division), Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine were recruited as research subjects. They were divided into study group (n=30) and control group (n=30) by random number table of computer. In study group, patients were treated by acupuncture plus letrozole, and patients in control group were treated only by letrozole. Statistical analysis were given between two groups of ovulation condition, endometrial thickness, basal body temperature (BBT) bidirectional rate, and ovulation rate, pregnancy rate within 3 months after treatment, successful pregnancy rate, and spontaneous, abortion rate after treatment. The study protocol was approved by the Ethical Review Board of Investigation in Human Being of Shanghai Ninth People′s Hospital (South Division), Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. There were no significance differences between two groups among general clinical data of age, duration of infertility, development of follicles and endometrial thickness before treatment (P>0.05). Results ①In study group, endometrial thickness, mature follicle number at the day of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) intramuscular injection and BBT bidirectional rate were all better than those of control group, and all the differences were statistically significant (t=2.330, P=0.018; t=2.035, P=0.032; χ2=6.240, P=0.012). ②Ovulation rate of patients in study group was 83.3%(25/30) which was higher than 53.3%(16/30) in control group, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=6.240, P=0.012). No ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS) occurred in two groups during treatment. ③There were no significant differences between two groups in pregnancy rate within 3 months after treatment and successful pregnancy rate (χ2=0.271, P=0.603; χ2=0.142, P=0.708). No spontaneous abortion occurred in two groups during pregnancy. Conclusions Acupuncture plus letrozole may promote the ovulatory disorder infertility patient′s follicular growth and improve the quality of follicles. Because of the sample size in this study is relatively small, whether the treatment method is worthy of clinical application or not still need large multi-center randomized controlled trials to confirm by further studies. Key words: Acupuncture; Infertility; Ovulation induction; Letrozole; Women