Acupuncture has been utilized in China for centuries to regulate the female reproductive system and has in recent years become a popular option for infertile couples, which is a common health problem in the United States with approximately 15% of women of childbearing age receiving care for this disorder. Though several studies utilizing the modern investigational approach have been published regarding the impact of acupuncture on fertility, unifying results and conclusions are lacking. Though acupuncture has been studied in other infertility settings, IVF was chosen because 1) IVF is one of the most common infertility treatments as well as the most resource intensive treatment option. Therefore, an improvement in IVF success will provide the greatest benefit to patients and society. 2) IVF affords the unique opportunity to gather the most data regarding the reproductive process and to investigate putative acupuncture related physiological changes. We propose a randomized, double blind, sham controlled feasibility study on the effect of acupuncture on IVF. Sixty IVF patients will be recruited into the study to accomplish following aims: 1) To examine the feasibility of recruiting and retaining a sufficient number of patients for an adequate powered study, 2) To identify issues related to the multicenter approach that could alter study endpoints, 3) To examine the effect size of treatment group as compared to the sham group, 4) To examine whether acupuncture is a safe procedure for women undergoing IVF, 5) To examine the effect of acupuncture on clinical IVF outcomes, and 6)To examine the physiological and psychological impact of acupuncture on IVF patients. Result obtained from the study will provide necessary information for a larger, definitive study, as well as knowledge regarding the broad mechanism of acupuncture on female reproductive function. ? ?
