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Acupuncture combined with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists improves endometrial receptivity and pregnancy outcome in patients with recurrent implantation failure of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
  • Published:
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Abstract

Objective

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHa), combined with other auxiliary treatments, can improve pregnancy outcomes in in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET). This research investigated the effect of acupuncture combined with GnRHa in patients with recurrent implantation failure (RIF) of IVF-ET.

Methods

A total of 164 patients who intended to undergo frozen-thawed embryo transfer after RIF of IVF-ET were selected for experiments and then divided into the control (received conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for endometrial preparation) and study groups (received a combination of acupuncture, GnRHa, and HRT for endometrial preparation) (n = 82). Endometrial thickness (EMT), endometrial morphological classification, submucosal uterine blood flow classification, clinical pregnancy rate, embryo implantation rate, and early abortion rate for each transfer cycle were compared between the two groups.

Results

EMT of the study group was higher than that of the control group 1 day before transfer. There were more patients with linear endometrium (A + B type) in the study group on the day of endometrial transformation than in the control group. The number of patients with type I submucosal uterine blood flow in the study group was decreased and the number of patients with type III was increased compared with the control group on the day of endometrial transformation. The clinical pregnancy rate and embryo implantation rate of the study group were higher than those of the control group.

Conclusion

Acupuncture combined with GnRHa improves the endometrial receptivity of patients with RIF of IVF-ET, thereby increasing clinical pregnancy rates and improving pregnancy outcomes.

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Data Availability

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material, furtherinquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

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Funding

This work was supported by Self-funded research Foundation of Health Commission of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (No. Z20200038).

Author information

Author notes

  1. **gya Yang and Yan Lu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reproductive Medicine Centre of Guigang City People’s Hospital, Guigang, 537100, Guangxi, China

    **gya Yang, Yuan Zhang, Cuijuan Zhou, Qin Liang & Ting Liang

  2. Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guigang City People’s Hospital, Guigang, 537100, Guangxi, China

    Yan Lu

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  1. **gya Yang
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  2. Yan Lu
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  3. Yuan Zhang
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  4. Cuijuan Zhou
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Correspondence to Ting Liang.

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Yang, J., Lu, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. Acupuncture combined with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists improves endometrial receptivity and pregnancy outcome in patients with recurrent implantation failure of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer. J Assist Reprod Genet (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-024-03140-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-024-03140-7

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