Integrating conventional and complementary medicine in women’s healthcare

Leading gynaecologist Michael Dooley says that simple steps – including gentle complementary therapies – can be of positive help in treating problems such as infertility as well as pre-menstrual syndrome and menopausal symptoms. 

Acupuncture has been demonstrated to improve endometrial circulation – a factor in infertility – while techniques like yoga, meditation, even aromatherapy and reflexology can help reduce stress, which may also be a factor when infertility has no specific cause.

Amazingly, 30% of his patients at the Poundbury Clinic, where he is medical director, go on to get pregnant with no further treatment.  Mr Dooley said:

'Complementary therapies can have several benefits.  Of themselves, they can improve general fitness and well-being. They also make it easier for patients to do the hard things, like change their diet, give up coffee or alcohol, and stop smoking.

'What’s more, some, such as acupuncture, may directly effect how well conventional treatments are going to work.

'I am convinced that the way forward for women’s healthcare is an integrated approach, looking after the whole person. Relying on the patient to remain passive while doctors provide some technical fix is not always the best course of action.'

The evidence as to whether acupuncture is of benefit in assisted conception – so-called test tube babies – is unclear. There have been a small number of relatively small scale trials whose results are inconclusive. Because the trial designs are so different, it is not feasible to compare them with one another. While the meta-analysis recently quoted by the British Fertility Society (BFS) suggests there is no positive evidence for acupuncture in treating infertility, a similar review1 published by the respected Cochrane Collaboration in 2008, found that there was benefit when acupuncture was carried out on the day of embryo transfer, but not when it was carried out later.

The BFS dismissal of traditional Chinese herbal medicine is surprising. It appears they have not consulted all the respected international Cochrane database. There is a Cochrane Centre in China that publishes Chinese language scientific research carried out there.  This does not appear to have been included in the review quoted by the British Fertility Society.

 

ENDS

 

Notes to editors:

 

1.       For more information and for interviews with Mr Michael Dooley, please contact Pat Goodall, 01246 410707 or pat.goodall@fih.org.uk

2.       1 Acupuncture and assisted conception, Cheong YC, Hung Yu Ng, Ledge WL, Cochrane Database, 2008 Oct 8; (4):CD006920. This review examined 13 scientific trials of acupuncture in the treatment of infertility. A further three trials were rejected. Lead author Ying Cheong is a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist and a senior lecturer at Southampton University.

3.       Trials that make use of sham acupuncture are flawed, according to Michael McIntyre, an international expert in herbal medicine and acupuncture. That is because sham acupuncture, for instance using cocktail sticks instead of needles, is not inert – whereas placebo controls by definition must be inert.

 4.       The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health was founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1993. Its principal aim is to make sure that everyone can access good integrated healthcare. More information about the Foundation can be found at www.fih.org.uk