Acupuncture treatment to prepare and support for IVF

Acupuncture treatment supports the IVF process by:

Regulating hormones that affect the cycle
Improving egg quality
Increasing the thickness of the endometrium by encouraging blood flow to the uterus
Modulating cytokines and immune response
Helping with side-effects from IVF medications
Reducing stress

Acupuncture is the most commonly used treatment alongside IVF and has been integrated into many fertility clinics. Ideally the patient would start having acupuncture prior to IVF (3 to 6 months) to regulate the menstrual cycle and treat any particular issues. However, the treatment is beneficial at any stage of the IVF process, including embryo transfer.

Embryo Transfer

The protocol for embryo transfer stands on its own and consists of two treatments performed on transfer day – one before and another after the actual transfer. This protocol is based on a very well known German study conducted by Paulus et al in 2002, which found that acupuncture given before and after embryo transfer increased pregnancy rate from 26.3 to 42.5 %. The study took 160 patients who were undergoing IVF and who had good quality embryos. They were divided into two groups through random selection. Clinical pregnancies were documented in 34 of 80 patients in the acupuncture group, whereas pregnancy rate was only 21 out of 80 in the control group.

The interest generated by this, led to further research with even better results. More recently the British Medical Journal analysed all available data and invested in a much larger study involving 1366 patients, which also found that acupuncture significantly increases the rate of successful embryo implantation. Additionally, another study at Homerton Hospital in London in 2016 showed an increase from 21.7% pregnancy rate in the group without acupuncture to 46.2% in the group treated by it.