Acupuncture for fertility: Doctors say, 'Why not?'

New York, New York (April 29, 2003)--physician-scientists at the center for reproductive medicine and infertility (crmi) at New York Weill Cornell medical center call for a definitive study of acupuncture as a fertility treatment, citing its numerous, promising benefits associated with increasing fertility in women. An article in a recent issue of Fertility and Sterility--co-authored by Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, Dr. Pak H. Chung, and Dr. Raymond Chang of Weill Cornell--provides a summary of current research that supports acupunctures potential benefits for fertility treatment, including the stimulation of increased uterine blood flow and fertility hormones.

"Acupuncture, which is nontoxic and relatively affordable, holds much promise as a complementary or alternative fertility treatment.

The lead review article reports that acupuncture treatment has the following potential fertility-boosting benefits:

• Increased blood flow to the uterus and therefore uterine wall thickness, an important marker for fertility
• Increased endorphin production, which, in turn, has been shown to effect the release of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), a decapeptide involved in regulating reproduction
• Lower stress hormones responsible for infertility
• Impact on plasma levels of the fertility hormones: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2), and Progesterone (P)
• Normalization of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis, a key process in fertility
• A positive effect for women with polycystic ovarian syndrome, a hormonal imbalance present in three percent of adolescents and adults.

Acupuncture is the manipulation of thin metallic needles inserted into anatomically defined locations on the body to affect bodily function. These so-called acupoints correspond to areas on the surface of the body that have been shown to have greater electrical conductance due to the presence of a higher density of gap junctions along cell borders. A greater metabolic rate, temperature, and calcium ion concentration are also observed at these points thus helping the body balance itself.