Acupuncture boosts success rate in fertility treatment

(1) Acupuncture could help women undergoing fertility treatment conceive babies, German
researchers said. Scientists said they increased the success rate by nearly 50 per cent in
women undergoing in vitro fertilization, the procedure commonly known as the "test-tube"
baby treatment. The researchers, led by Wolfgang Paulus and co leagues at the
Christian-Lauritzen - Institute in Ulm, Germany, said they do not know why acupuncture works
and plan more studies.

(2)Acupuncture seems to be a useful tool for improving pregnancy rate after assisted
reproductive techniques," they wrote in a report published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
"The analysis shows that the pregnancy rate for the acupuncture group is considerably higher
than for the control group (42.5 per cent versus 26.3 per cent)," they wrote. "If these findings
are confirmed, they may help us improve the odds for our ( in vitro fertilization) patients'
achieving pregnancy."
Working with a team at the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Tongji Hospital in
Wuhan, China, Paulus and colleagues tested 160 women undergoing in vitro fertilization. Half
received the standard in vitro fertilization, while half were given acupuncture treatments before
and after.

(3)We chose acupuncture points that relax the uterus according to the principle of traditional
Chinese medicine," they wrote. They said acupuncture can affect the autonomic nervous
system - involved in the control of muscles and glands - and thus, theoretically, making the
lining of uterus more receptive to receiving an embryo.