Qiong Di Wu

Title : Acupuncture in combination with Bushen-Wenyang-Nuangong Fang of Chinese herb medicine improve the successful rate of IVF-ET assisted pregnancy in Irish infertile women

Abstract:

In vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) is the most used artificial assisted pregnancy technology by infertile women worldwide. However, due to the low successful rate of IVF-ET, adjunctive therapies including acupuncture and Chinese herb medicine have been increasingly accepted and widely selected during IVF-ET.
Purpose: This study aimed to clarify the effect of acupuncture in combination with Bushen-Wenyang-Nuangong Fang of Chinese herb medicine on improving the clinical efficacy of IVF-ET in Irish infertile women.
Methods: A total of 153 cases of Irish infertile women who had at least one or two more failures of IVF-ET and met the diagnostic criteria of traditional Chinese medicine for kidney yang deficiency and uterus cold syndrome were recruited and randomized into two groups. Participants in the acupuncture only group (n=61) or the acupuncture plus Chinese herb medicine group (n=92) were treated with acupuncture alone or acupuncture plus Bushen-Wenyang-Nuangong Fang of Chinese herb medicine. The live birth rate (LBR), clinical pregnancy rate (CPR), embryonic demise and miscarriage rate (ED/MR), number of ovarian follicles (NOF), zygotes (NZ), and embryo blastocyst (NEB) were assessed and compared between the two groups.
Results: Compared with acupuncture only, acupuncture plus Chinese herb medicine effectively improved the successful rate of IVF-ET with significantly increased LBR and CPR from 23.0% and 31.1% in the acupuncture only group to 56.5% (p<0.0001) and 63.0% (p=0.0001), respectively, and simultaneously reduced ED/MR from 26.3% in the acupuncture only group to 10.3%. Notably, acupuncture plus Chinese herb medicine substantially increased both NZ and NEB from 3.857 and 2.635 in the acupuncture only group to 6.012 (p=0.0004) and 3.833 (p=0.0065), respectively. 
Conclusion: These results demonstrate that acupuncture in combination with Bushen-Wenyang-Nuangong Fang of Chinese herb medicine improve the successful rate of IVF-ET in Irish infertile women.

Audience Take Away Notes:

• In this clinical observation study, we have shown that in comparison with acupuncture only, acupuncture in combination with Bushen-Wenyang-Nuangong Fang effectively enhance both live birth rate and clinical pregnancy rate, and simultaneously reduce the incidence of embryonic demise and miscarriage in infertile women undergoing IVF-ET.
•  Importantly, acupuncture in combination with Bushen-Wenyang-Nuangong Fang substantially increase the number of both zygotes and embryo blastocysts in infertile women undergoing IVF-ET, which could be the underlying mechanism(s) by which acupuncture in combination with Bushen-Wenyan-Nuangong Fang improve the successful rate of IVF-ET in Irish infertile women.

Biography:

Dr. Qiong-Di Wu was trained with western medicine at the Third Medical University, and acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine at the China Academy College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing, China, and the Shulan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Manchester, UK. She received her MSc degree at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland, and her PhD degree at the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China. Dr. Wu is the director and main practitioner of the Q&D Acupuncture and Herb Clinic, and a member of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Council of Ireland. She has published more than 20 research articles in the SCI journals.