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Acupuncture: Another Clinical Trial Fails
Review of: Stener-Victorin E, Waldenström U, Nilsson L, Wikland M, Janson PO. A prospective randomized study of electro-acupuncture versus alfentanil as anaesthesia during oocyte aspiration in in-vitro fertilization. Hum Reprod 1999;14:2480–2484.
HERE IS ANOTHER OF MANY ARTICLES PURPORTING to demonstrate the clinical value of acupuncture. It is also another of many such articles that fail to support the authors’ conclusions.
This Swedish study consisted of randomizing 150 women undergoing ultrasonically guided ovum retrieval as part of an in vitro fertilization (IVF) protocol to receive either electro-acupuncture (EA) or alfentanil, a fast-acting narcotic agent, as anesthesia for the procedure. The authors used a visual analog scale to assess “stress,” pain, and nausea. Their reported findings were that although preoperative “stress” was higher among the group subjected to acupuncture, “no differences in pain directly related to oocyte aspiration, abdominal pain, or degree of nausea were found between the two groups.” Those who received EA instead of alfentanil also “had a significantly higher implantation rate (P<0.05), pregnancy rate (P<0.05), and take-home baby rate (P<0.05).” Stener-Victorin and her coauthors therefore “suggest[ed] that EA may be a good alternative to conventional anaesthesia during oocyte aspiration.”
Sadly, this study suffers from major defects that render it useless for reaching the conclusions desired by its authors.
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