Acupuncture-Assisted Fertility

April 2008

Eric Serejski. L.AC, Dipl. AC & CH.

The incidence of infertility has continued to rise over the last ten years and it is estimated that it affects at least 11% of couples of reproductive age (over 10 million couples in the USA). About 30% of these couples are still diagnosed with unexplained infertility[1]. About 2 million couples seek infertility treatments each year with a spending of $3 to $5 billions and a success rate of about 33 to 36%.

Approaches to infertility are complex and costly. They foster the development, application, risk analyses and fitting cost-effectiveness of novel strategies.[2]^,[3] This article suggests the inclusion of acupuncture in assisted fertility protocols. The incremental cost of acupuncture treatment is marginal compared to the benefit of interest. In addition, the complementary diagnostic approach of acupuncture may be of significant benefit in the approach of unexplained infertility.

Infertility has been addressed by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), acupuncture and Chinese herbs (AC and CH), for the past 3,000 years.[4]^,[5] However, in the context of modern reproductive endocrinology and infertility, AC is best used as an adjunctive and synergistic therapy complementing western treatments.