Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) shows promise as a more effective acupuncture type for improving pregnancy outcomes in patients with poor ovarian response.
In this study, eight databases were searched until September 10, 2023, to include randomized controlled trials that used TEAS, manual acupuncture (MA), or electroacupuncture (EA) as methods before in-vitro fertilization and embryo transplantation, aiming to improve pregnancy outcomes in patients with poor ovarian response. Traditional controlled ovarian stimulation protocols were used in the control group, and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool was employed to evaluate the methodological quality of the incorporated studies. Summary statistics were generated using the surfaces under the cumulative ranking curves.
The analysis included fifteen randomized controlled trials, encompassing 1195 women, in a network meta-analysis. The results revealed that TEAS significantly outperformed EA, MA, and the control group in increasing the number of oocytes and antral follicle count. It's notable that manual acupuncture demonstrated a greater increase in the number of mature oocytes compared to the control group. However, the effects of the other treatments didn't show substantial differences when the contrasting groups were analyzed. The evidence currently suggests that using acupuncture as a precursor to in-vitro fertilization brings positive effects and a high safety profile in enhancing pregnancy outcomes in patients with poor ovarian responses, with TEAS appearing to be the most encouraging option.
