Luteal Phase Defect
Auricular acupuncture can treat oligomenorrhea and luteal phase defect, restoring fertility
A study was carried out into the use of auricular acupuncture on 45 infertile women suffering from oligomenorrhea (27 cases) or luteal phase defect (18 cases), and results were compared with 45 women receiving hormone treatment. Both groups were matched for duration of infertility, age, body mass index, previous pregnancies, menstrual cycle and tubal patency. The women treated with auricular acupuncture had 22 pregnancies, whilst the women treated with hormones had 20 pregnancies. Side effects were only noted in those treated with hormones. The study concluded that auricular acupuncture seems to offer a valuable alternative therapy for female infertility due to hormone disorder, being more effect than hormone therapy and with no side effects.
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Gerhard I, Dep. For Gynaecological Endocrinology and Reproduction, Women’s Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
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Chinese herbal medicine can regulate the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian axis and thus improve luteal function
In one study of female infertility, 53 patients suffering from a luteal phase defect were treated with different Chinese herbal formulas at different phases of their menstrual cycle. The patients were treated from 3 menstrual cycles, after which there was seen to be significant improvement in the luteal phase of the endometrium, and a tendency for normalization of the wave forms of the BBT chart and its amplitude after the treatment. The findings suggested that Chinese herbal medicines are capable of replenishing the kidney and regulating the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian axis and thus improving luteal function. Among the 53 cases, 22 conceived, though 68% of them required other measures to maintain the pregnancy.
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Zhang HY, Yu XZ, Wang GL, Preliminary report of the treatment of luteal phase defect by replenishing the kidney.
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Chinese herbal medicine can effectively treat women with low BBT and progesterone levels (luteal phase defect)
Women with normal menstrual cycles but lower body basal temperature and progesterone levels, indicating a luteal phase defect, were effectively treated with a Chinese herbal formula, Dang Gui Shao Yao Tang
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Usuki S, Higa TN, Soreya K. ‘The improvement of luteal insufficiency in fecund women by dokishakuyakusan’. American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 2002; 30 (2-3): 327-38.
