Women undergoing In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) can increase their chances of getting pregnant by 65 percent, if they are prepared to undergo acupuncture treatment too, simultaneously, suggests a preliminary study, mentioned in ‘HealthDay News’.

About 10-15% of the couples, who face difficulty conceiving, opt for in-vitro fertilization procedure, which involves fertilizing a woman’s egg in laboratory and then transferring into her womb. Now there are evidences that acupuncture treatment can increase the rate of success of this procedure.

The Lead Researcher, Eric Manheimer, Research-Associate at the University of Maryland School of Medicines Center for Integrative Medicine, says “Complementing an embryo transfer process with acupuncture seems to increase the odds of pregnancy by 65 percent, in comparison to no adjuvant treatment or sham acupuncture.”

For conducting this study, Manheimer’s team underwent seven trials, including 1366 women who underwent IVF. Each trial compared the Acupuncture given within a day of embryo transfer, to Sham Acupuncture or no Acupuncture. The researchers found that women who underwent Acupuncture, had their success rate increased by 65 percent, in comparison with those who had no acupuncture or sham acupuncture.

“In other words, this implies that 10 women would need to be treated with Acupuncture to result in an additional pregnancy,” revealed Manheimer.

“Acupuncture can be used as an adjuvant treatment in the IVF process, but I think there need to be more studies to confirm these findings, as they are still preliminary,” Manheimer concluded.

However in studies where the pregnancy rates were high, the benefit of acupuncture seemed small and in-significant, the researchers noted.

Dr. Marshall H. Sager, the Past President, American Academy of Medical Acupuncture says “Am not surprised by the findings. All women undergoing In-vitro Fertilization can benefit from Acupuncture, and increase their chances of success.”

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