By: By Christopher Wanjek, Contributing writer

Published: 07/10/2013 08:28 AM EDT on LiveScience


Can an acupuncture prick help women get pregnant? The technique seems to have only limited success when used complementarily with in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to a new international study.


IVF procedures involve fertilizing a woman's eggs with sperm in a laboratory, and then implanting a viable embryo in a woman's uterus. Acupuncture, yoga and hypnosis are common complementary therapies for IVF, and are done with the aim of improving the chances of a successful pregnancy[1] .


In a review of 16 independent studies involving more than 4,000 women, the researchers found that acupuncture[2] had no benefit for patients who had visited IVF clinics with a history of higher-than-average pregnancy success rates. Acupuncture did increase the pregnancy rate, however, for patients at below-average IVF clinics.


"The lower the baseline pregnancy rate at the clinic, the more adjuvant acupuncture seemed to increase the pregnancy rate," said Dr. Eric Manheimer, lead author and research associate at the University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine.


The study, published online June 27 in the journal Human Reproduction Update, adds more varied results for the use of acupuncture in conjunction with IVF, which has seen mostly mixed outcomes since it was first studied about two decades ago.


Surprisingly low odds



Although IVF has been available for more than 30 years, pregnancy success rates remain low — about 35 percent for U.S. women ages 35 to 40, and about 20 percent for those ages 40 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cost is typically more than $10,000 per attempt.


Many women have turned to acupuncture to increase their odds of getting pregnant via IVF[3] . The therapy became more popular after it was featured on the television program "Sex and the City."


However, there has been no significant evidence that acupuncture helps women get pregnant when used in conjunction with IVF, nor is there agreement among doctors about why it would work.


According to traditional Chinese medicine, the human body has a life force, or energy called chi, which travels through the body along meridians. In this tradition, acupuncture needles stimulate certain points[4] below the skin to help unblock and regulate the flow of chi and, thus, aid in healing.


Chinese culture has used acupuncture for thousands of years to improve fertility. Acupuncture proponents claim the female body has various points related to fertility, mostly associated with the kidney, liver and heart.


Most Western doctors don't subscribe to the notion of meridians and chi. Indeed, the medical literature is rife with letters to the editor calling the practice of acupuncture with IVF ridiculous and frivolous.


Some doctors, however, have hypothesized that acupuncture may reduce stress and increase blood flow to the uterus, which could, in turn, increase the chances of getting pregnant.


What studies reveal


Studies on women undergoing IVF in Europe and North America remain inconclusive. A study published in 2002 by a German team led by Wolfgang Paulus at Christian-Lauritzen-Institut in Germany found that women who had acupuncture therapy along with their IVF were twice as likely to get pregnant compared with women who had only IVF. But the team's follow-up study a year later comparing fake and real acupuncture yielded similar results, suggesting acupuncture's role in pregnancy success could be attributed to the placebo effect. [11 Surprising Facts About Placebos[5] ]


In 2006, the journal Fertility and Sterility published a series of studies, some of which showed a positive effect from acupuncture and some of which showed no effect. In 2008, Manheimer published a study in the British Medical Journal revealing largely positive results in favor of using acupuncture with IVF.


But now, Manheimer's follow-up study — which he wrote with co-authors in China, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands — has concluded that, on average, acupuncture offered no statistically significant benefit for IVF success rates in the 4,000 cases they analyzed.


While the scientific debate continues, it is perhaps useful to note that no study has revealed any negative side effects of acupuncture used with IVF, and the cost of acupuncture is negligible compared to the cost of IVF.


Christopher Wanjek is the author of the books "Bad Medicine[6] " and "Food At Work[7] ." His column, Bad Medicine[8] , appears regularly on LiveScience.



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  • <strong>1. Your fertility is mostly determined by genetics, which influences how many eggs you are born with. </strong> Doctors believe that the number of eggs you have at birth determines the length of time you will remain fertile. At birth, women have about two million eggs in their ovaries. For every egg ovulated during your reproductive life, about 1,000 eggs undergo programmed cell death. Other things, such as smoking cigarettes and certain types of chemotherapy, can accelerate egg cell death and promote an earlier menopause.




  • <strong>2. Regular menstrual cycles are a sign of regular ovulation.</strong> Most women have regular cycles lasting between 24 and 35 days. This is usually a sign of regular, predictable ovulation. Women who do not ovulate regularly have irregular menstrual cycles. Those who do not ovulate at all may have a genetic condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).




  • <strong>3. Basal temperature charting does not predict ovulation.</strong> An older method of tracking ovulation involves taking your oral body temperature each morning before getting out of bed. This is called basal body temperature. This method is used to spot a rise in basal temperature, which is a sign that progesterone is being produced. The main problem with using this method is that your temperature rises after ovulation has already occurred. This makes it more difficult to time intercourse at an optimal time for conception. A better method is to use over-the-counter urine ovulation predictor test kits such as Clearblue Easy. These kits test for the hormone that prompts ovulation, which is called luteinizing hormone (LH).




  • <strong>4. Most women with blocked fallopian tubes are completely unaware they may have had a prior pelvic infection.</strong> About 10 percent of infertility cases are due to tubal disease, either complete blockage or pelvic scarring causing tubal malfunction. One major cause of tubal disease is a prior pelvic infection from a sexually transmitted disease such as chlamydia. These infections can cause so few symptoms that you may be completely unaware your tubes are affected. This is why fertility physicians will order a dye test of the tubes, called a hysterosalpingogram (HSG), if you have been trying and failing to conceive for 6 months or longer.




  • <strong>5. In most cases, stress does not cause infertility.</strong> Except in rare cases of extreme physical or emotional distress, women will keep ovulating regularly. Conceiving while on vacation is likely less about relaxation than about coincidence and good timing of sex.




  • <strong>6. By age 44, most women are infertile, even if they are still ovulating regularly.</strong> Even with significant fertility treatment, rates of conception are very low after age 43. Most women who conceive in their mid-40's with fertility treatment are using donated eggs from younger women.




  • <strong>7. Having fathered a pregnancy in the past does not guarantee fertility.</strong> Sperm counts can change quite a bit with time, so never assume that a prior pregnancy guarantees fertile sperm. Obtaining a semen analysis is the only way to be sure the sperm are still healthy!




  • <strong>8. For the most part, diet has little or nothing to do with fertility.</strong> Despite popular press, there is little scientific data showing that a particular diet or food promotes fertility. One limited study did suggest a Mediterranean diet with olive oil, fish and legumes may help promote fertility.




  • <strong>9. Vitamin D may improve results of fertility treatments.</strong> A recent study from the University of Southern California suggested that women who were undergoing fertility treatments, but had low vitamin D levels, might have lower rates of conception. This vitamin is also essential during pregnancy. At Pacific Fertility Center, we recommend our patients take 2,000-4,000 IU per day.




  • <strong>10. Being either underweight or overweight is clearly linked with lowered levels of fertility.</strong> The evidence in recent years is that obesity is clearly linked with a longer time to conception. Having a body mass index less than 18 or over 32 is associated with problems ovulating and conceiving, as well as problems during pregnancy.