Acupuncture for Fertility

As more women than ever delay having children until their 30s and 40s, infertility is a growing challenge in the U.S. An estimated 3 million couples are unable to conceive after a year of trying, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Fertility clinics have done a brisk business in recent years, but now doctors say that a growing number of women who have been unable to get pregnant through conventional medical treatments are seeking out alternatives such as acupuncture. Demand for the traditional Chinese method is so great that an increasing number of fertility doctors now are collaborating with acupuncturists, with some physicians adding acupuncturists to their staff, according to doctors and experts in the field.

Although many acupuncturists and doctors of oriental medicine swear by the treatment — and have relied on it as an infertility remedy for years — the mainstream medical community remains divided on acupuncture's efficacy. Some doctors say more research is needed to demonstrate acupuncture's effectiveness, and others believe it's irresponsible to recommend the treatment based on the existing scientific evidence.

Most fertility specialists trace the current popularity of acupuncture treatment to a German study published in 2002 in the journal Fertility and Sterility. The study, led by Dr. Wolfgang Paulus at the University of Ulm, found that 42% of women receiving acupuncture just before and after an assisted-reproductive therapy, such as IVF, became pregnant; that compared with 26% of patients who got pregnant with assisted-reproductive treatments but who received no acupuncture therapy.

Later that year, Dr. Raymond Chang and colleagues at Cornell University's medical school in New York published a paper in the same journal, describing several ways acupuncture might actually improve a woman's chances of conceiving: relaxation, regulating reproductive hormones and improving the lining of the uterus, where the embryo needs to be implanted before it can develop.

Because of the reports, published in a prestigious journal, "some doctors started to say, let's try it out," said Dr. Paul C. Magarelli, a fertility specialist in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Courtesy of LA Times 7/5/2005