Abstract
In vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET), a well-developed technology, provides the last possibility or hope for infertile women. However, the live birth rate per IVF cycle is still not satisfactory. Acupuncture is a frequently used adjunctive therapy drawing wide attention on improvement of IVF. Although so many randomized controlled trials have been evaluating the effect of acupuncture on IVF in the past 20 years, the exact efficacy of acupuncture on IVF is still controversy mainly because of no consensus on placebo control and acupuncture scheme. This paper focused on the general issues in clinical research of acupuncture and IVF and gave some suggestions for future directions.
Highlights
Infertility is a growing problem with rapid economic development, lifestyle changes, and deterioration of environmental pollution
Contradictory results were shown in lines of systematic reviews and meta-analyses adding the complexity of acupuncture on IVF [10]
In recent years, some clinical studies appeared on the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported no difference of the effect in between the real acupuncture and sham acupuncture [11, 12], adding doubt whether acupuncture influences IVF pregnancy or not
Summary
Infertility is a growing problem with rapid economic development, lifestyle changes, and deterioration of environmental pollution. Complementary and alternative medical (CAM) treatments may be good options for patients to increase the success rate of IVF. Among these CAM treatments, acupuncture is a frequently used adjunctive therapy drawing wide attention on improvement of IVF. Some studies suggested a positive impact from adding acupuncture to IVF [3,4,5,6,7], but others did not [8, 9]. In recent years, some clinical studies appeared on the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported no difference of the effect in between the real acupuncture and sham acupuncture [11, 12], adding doubt whether acupuncture influences IVF pregnancy or not. Given the different conclusions on the acupuncture in IVF, this paper will focus on the general issues in design of clinical acupuncture research, especially for subfertility or IVF, and gave some suggestions for future directions in acupuncture and IVF
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