Table 2.
Detailed information of acupuncture treatments: following STRICTA.
| Item | Detail | Study |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chen 2009 | Zheng 2015 | Dong 2019 | ||
| Acupuncture rationale | Style of acupuncture | Traditional Chinese medicine | Traditional Chinese medicine | Traditional Chinese medicine |
| Reasoning for treatment provided | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | |
| Extent to which treatment was varied | No variation | No variation | Not reported | |
| Details of needling | Number of needle insertions per subject per session | 7 acupoints | 8 acupoints | 4 acupoints |
| Names of points used | CV4, KI3, SP6, EX-CA1, CV3, LR3 | CV4, CV3, SP6, EX-CA1, ST25, BL23, GV3, GV4 | CV4, KI3, SP6, LR3 | |
| Depth of insertion | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | |
| Response sought | Frequency of 16–18 times/min, dense wave | Frequency of 2 Hz, strength of 20–25 mA | Until there is a sense of tightness under the needle | |
| Needle stimulation | Electroacupuncture | Electroacupuncture | CV4: twisting method | |
| Needle retention time | 30 minutes | 30 minutes | 30 minutes | |
| Needle type | G6805-1 | · Needle: Han’s acupoint nerve stimulator (HANS) developed by the Neurological Institute of Peking University (Beijing, China) · Electrode patch: Han’s device (Medical Technology Co., Ltd. Nanjing Jisheng) |
Needle: 25 mm x 40 mm, Suzhou Dongbang Medical Equipment Co., Ltd. | |
| Treatment regimen | Number of treatment sessions Frequency and duration of treatment sessions |
Once daily, from 2 days after the end of menstrual cycle until ovulation | Once daily, for 3 menstrual cycles | Once daily from 8-15th day of menstruation, for 3 cycles |
| Other components of treatment | Details of other interventions administered to the acupuncture group | Superovulation programme | No other interventions except IVF-ET | 1) Microstimulation ovulation program 2) Climen |
| Setting and context of treatment | Same with control | Not reported | 1) Oral administration of Clomiphene, muscular injection of Menotrophin Chorionic Gonadotrophin triggering, etc. 2) Tablet composed of estradiol valerate and cyproterone acetate |
|
| Practitioner background | Description of participating acupuncturists | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. |
| Control or comparator interventions | Rationale for the comparator | Existing treatment | Existing treatment | Existing treatment |
| Precise description of the control or comparator | Superovulation programme - Intramuscular injection of recombinant FSH on the 3rd day of menstrual cycle hormone (Gonal-F, 75 U/branch, Serono, Switzerland) 300 U/d, 8th days of menstrual cycle - Subcutaneous injection of cetrorelix acetate (Cetrorelix, German Baxter Oncology GmbH), 0.25 mg, once daily |
1) Sham electroacupuncture −5 mA; the electric current was tuned on for 3 s and paused for 7s 2) Artificial endometrial cycle treatment - Progynova (2 mg/day for 21 days, from 5th day of menstruation - Duphaston (20 mg/day, ten days prior to the last administration of Progynova) 3) IVF-ET with no other treatment |
1) Acupuncture + Microstimulation ovulation program 2) Climen + Microstimulation ovulation prog`ram 3) Microstimulation ovulation program |
|
FSH, follicle stimulating hormone; IVF-ET, in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer; n.r., not reported.