TerminatedNCT00722462AcuIVFUpdated Jul 9, 2015

The Effect of Acupuncture on Pregnancy Rates in Women Undergoing Embryo Transfer

A Phase 4 interventional study of Active acupuncture and Sham acupuncture in Pregnancy, sponsored by Ottawa Fertility Centre. Terminated at 1 site in Canada. Open to female participants, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2015-07-09.

Sponsored by Ottawa Fertility Centre · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment

Why this study was terminated

Recent abstract publication questioning the need for our study

Phase: Phase 4
Study type: Interventional
Enrollment: 30
Allocation: Randomized
Sex: Female

Study summary

The present study is designed to test the hypothesis that acupuncture, before and after embryo transfer, significantly improves pregnancy rates, compared to embryo transfer with sham acupuncture and no acupuncture at all.

Conditions studied

Pregnancy

Keywords

Infertility
IVF
Acupuncture

In context

Lead sponsor

Ottawa Fertility Centre is the lead sponsor of 4 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

Who can participate

Ages eligible: Child (0–17), Adult (18–64), Older adult (65+)
Sexes eligible: Female
Accepts healthy volunteers: Yes

Inclusion criteria

patient is undergoing embryo transfer after IVF or ICSI
patient has given informed consent to participate

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

frozen embryo transfer
previous enrollment in study

Study design

Phase: Phase 4
Primary purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel assignment
Masking: Quadruple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment: 30 participants (actual)

Study arms

Experimental
1
Active acupuncture
Procedure: Active acupuncture
Sham comparator
2
Sham Acupuncture- acupuncture at neutral points
Procedure: Sham acupuncture
No intervention
3
Embryo transfer with no acupuncture

Interventions

ProcedureActive acupuncture
Acupuncture 25 minutes before and after embryo transfer
ProcedureSham acupuncture
Acupuncture at neutral points, 25 minutes before and after embryo transfer

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

Clinical Pregnancy
Time frame: 4-5 weeks after treatment

Secondary outcomes

Live birth
Time frame: 9 months after treatment
Implantation rate
Time frame: 4-5 weeks after treatment
Side effects with acupuncture treatment
Time frame: 2 weeks after treatment

Study locations

1 site

Ottawa Fertility Centre
Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3V4, Canada

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026

No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 9, 2015, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Registry details

Key details

Study ID: NCT00722462
Lead sponsor: Ottawa Fertility Centre
Responsible party: Sponsor
First posted: Jul 25, 2008
Start date: Aug 2008
Primary completion: May 2009
Completion: May 2009
Last update: Jul 9, 2015

Study contacts

Arthur Leader, MD

study chair · Ottawa Fertility Centre

Doron Shmorgun, MD

principal investigator · Ottawa Fertility Centre

Oversight

Data monitoring committee: No

View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is terminated, as verified in Jul 2015. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

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