The Evolution of a Revolution: How Traditional Chinese Medicine Brings IVF into Modern Times 

Paul C. Magarelli, MD, PhD, FACOG

China’s Cultural Revolution marked a move from the past into a new plan for the future. A small paper published in 2002 in Fertility & Sterility by Paulus WE, et al.1 showed a similar, though relatively silent revolution. The research suggested that adding acupuncture under a strict protocol to patients undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) demonstrated improvements in reproductive outcomes, i.e., more pregnancies. The impact of this small study was not fully realized for several years. However, its results prompted Diane K. Cridennda, LAc to challenge Paul C. Magarelli, MD, PhD to question how he could help his patients by stretching for solutions outside the realm of allopathic medicine.

Cridennda met with Magarelli in 2002 to discuss her belief that by adding Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the form of acupuncture, more patients could get and stay pregnant. Magarelli’s position was that any medical treatment must ethically have scientific basis before subjecting patients to it. He asked her to provide data to support her position. She returned with the paper by Paulus WE, et al.1 and added a new study by Stener- Victorin’s group discussing a favorable physiologic change in blood flow [pulsatility index (PI)] through the uterine artery in IVF patients treated with acupuncture.2

Acupuncture physiology

Acupuncture is the placement of fine needles into specific acupoints along the pathways of energy in the body. Acupoints relieve blockages and restore the flow of “Qi”, pronounced [CHEE] or energy, encouraging the body’s natural ability to heal itself. When Qi is balanced and organs are “nourished,” the body will be able to function at their capacity and, in this case, for procreation.

This process works by sending messages to the brain almost like programming a computer. Qi is conducted through protein molecules giving us energy and life. Qi moves by way of meridians—a web or network of channels, which sets up communication between every organ in the body. TCM practitioners have mapped these channels out over the course of thousands of years of experimentation and observation. The insertion of fine needles into the acupoints along the meridians produces measurable effects on different parts of the body. This is how acupuncture

can affect abdominal organs, such as the kidneys, liver and uterus by placing needles in the arms and legs. There are specific acupuncture points which relate to fertility, but the single most important theory is this: When Qi flows through the body in the correct direction at the right time, the body will return to health.