General Issues in Clinical Research of Acupuncture and In Vitro Fertilization

Cuihong Zheng; Xiaoyang Wan; Xiaohu Xu; Mingmin Zhang; Guangying Huang; Wei Wang

doi:10.1155/2020/3460641

General Issues in Clinical Research of Acupuncture and In Vitro Fertilization

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2020 Apr 13:2020:3460641. doi: 10.1155/2020/3460641. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Cuihong Zheng¹, Xiaoyang Wan², Xiaohu Xu¹, Mingmin Zhang¹, Guangying Huang¹, Wei Wang³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 1095 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430030, China.
² Institute of Infectious Disease, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 1095 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430030, China.
³ Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 1095 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430030, China.

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.

Publication types

Review