Effect of Acupuncture Plus Governor Vessel Moxibustion Combined With Letrozole on Live Birth in Anovulatory Infertile Women With Spleen-kidney Yang Deficiency PCOS

Qiu-ping Lin

Status and phase: Unknown; Phase 1

Conditions: PCOS; Infertility, Female

Treatments: Drug: Letrozole; Other: Governor vessel moxibustion; Device: acupuncture

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04987632

20211408

Details and patient eligibility

About

Investigators expected to verify this hypothesis through this study:acupuncture and moxibustion combined with LE induced ovulation in Chinese anovulatory PCOS women has a higher rate of live birth than LE induced ovulation alone.

Full description

It is a prospective, single center, clinical, randomized, controlled study. The subjects were 90 PCOS anovulatory participants of spleen kidney yang deficiency type, aged 20-40 years, who were treated in the outpatient department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Dongguan Hospital of traditional Chinese medicine from January 2021 to December 2022. Participants were randomly divided into two groups: Acupuncture plus Du Meridian moxibustion combined with LE ovulation induction treatment group and single Le ovulation induction control group, 45 cases in each group.

The subjects in the two groups began to take letrozole or combined with acupuncture and Du Meridian moxibustion on 3-5 days of menstruation (spontaneous menstruation or progesterone withdrawal bleeding). If not pregnant, the subjects received letrozole for up to 4 cycles to induce ovulation or acupuncture plus Du Meridian moxibustion. Once pregnancy is found, acupuncture and Du Meridian moxibustion or drug treatment will stop immediately.

At the end of treatment, data were collected to observe the differences of live birth rate, pregnancy rate, ovulation rate, sex hormone, steroid hormone, glucose and lipid metabolism index and safety index between the two groups.

Enrollment: 90 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 20 to 40 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Women between the ages of 20 and 40.
• It meets the diagnostic criteria of spleen-kidney Yang deficiency type PCOS.
• According to World Health Organization standards (2010), the husband's semen analysis meets ① or ②.①Sperm density ≥15×10^6/ml, and motile sperm (forward and non-forward) ≥40% (A + B + C ≥40%)).② Total motile sperm number ≥9 million.That is, the percentage of semen volume × semen density × motility sperm ≥9×10^6.
• Tubal patency tests, including hysterosalpingography and diagnostic laparoscopy, which show that at least one fallopian tube is open.(If there is no history of pelvic operation or abortion, patency test results are effective within 3 years;If there is a history of fertility within 5 years and there is no pelvic operation, the tubal patency test is not required).
• Agree to discontinue the use of other therapies during the study. 6) Participate in the study voluntarily and sign the informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• Eliminate other endocrine disorders: ① Patients with hyperprolactinemia (defined as two prolactin levels greater than or equal to 25ng/ml or determined by local standard values at least one week apart).The goal of excluding patients with hyperprolactinemia was to reduce variability among PCOS patients.These patients may be treated with alternative therapies (e.g., dopamine agonists).Those who had received treatment within the past year or were receiving treatment with normal test values could be enrolled. ② Menopausal FSH level (> 15 mIU/mL).Normal levels in the past year are eligible for inclusion. ③ Patients with uncorrected thyroid disease (defined as TSH < 0.2 mIU/mL or >5.5 mIU/mL).In the past year, normal levels can be included in the group. ④ Patients with poorly controlled type I or II diabetes (defined as a bb0 7.0% glycosylated hemoglobin level) or patients receiving antidiabetic drugs such as insulin, thiazole-lowering drugs, acarbose, or sulfonylureas may obfuscate the effects of the study drugs;Patients who were being treated with metformin in order to be diagnosed with type I or II diabetes or PCOS also need to be excluded. ⑤ Suspected patients with Cushing syndrome.
• In the last 2 months, use of hormones or other drugs, including TCM prescriptions and Chinese patent medicines, may affect the results.
• Pregnancy history within the last 6 weeks.
• A history of miscarriage or birth in the last 6 weeks.
• A history of breastfeeding in the last 6 months.
• Do not agree to sign the informed consent for this study.
• PCOS women who do not belong to the syndrome of spleen-kidney Yang deficiency.
• Special exclusion criteria： ① Patients with adrenal or ovarian tumors suspected of producing androgens. ② Both the husband and wife have had sterilization operations (vasectomy, tubal ligation) before, and the ligation has been loosened.Previous surgery may have influenced the results of the study.Patients with both husband and wife having undergone sterilization and PCOS at the same time are rare, and the inclusion of these patients should be excluded, otherwise the progress of this study will be affected. ③ Patients who have had bariatric surgery recently (<12 months) and who are in a period of dramatic weight loss or who have had bariatric surgery to prohibit pregnancy. ④ Untreated hypertensive patients with poor blood pressure control were defined as ≥60min between two blood pressure measurements, ≥160 mm Hg systolic or ≥100 mm Hg diastolic. ⑤ Patients with known congenital adrenocortical hyperplasia. ⑥ Oral ontraceptives, progesterone or hormone implants (including subcutaneous implants).A 2-month clearance period is required before screening of patients who have received these drugs.Storage of contraceptive forms or implants, especially if the implants have not been removed, may require longer removal time.Oral contraceptives take about a month to clear the drug. ⑦ Patients with liver disease with AST or ALT >2 times normal value or total bilirubin >2.5 g/dL.Patients with nephropathy with BUN > 30 mg/dL or serum creatinine > 1.4 mg/dL. ⑧ Patients with significant anemia (hemoglobin < 10 g/dL). ⑨Patients with a history of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, or cerebrovascular disease .⑩ Patients with heart disease that may worsen after pregnancy. ⑪ Patients with a suspected history of cervical, endometrial or breast cancer.Women 21 years of age and older should have normal results from a Pap smear or TCT test. ⑫ Patients with a current history of alcoholism.Binge drinking was defined as > 14 times a week or binge drinking. ⑬ Patients also participated in other clinical studies.These studies require medication, sex restriction, or other barriers to compliance. ⑭ Patients who are expected to discontinue treatment for more than 1 month during the study period should not be included. ⑮ Patients taking other medications known to affect reproductive function or metabolism.These drugs include oral contraceptives, GnRH agonists and antagonists, antiandrogens, gonadotropins, anti-obesity drugs, anti-diabetic drugs such as metformin and thiazolidindiones, growth hormone release inhibiting hormones, diazazines, ACE inhibitors, and calcium channel blockers.The removal time of the above drugs should be 2 months.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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90 participants in 2 patient groups

Letrozole combined with acupuncture and Du Meridian moxibustion group

Experimental group

Description:

Letrozole combined with acupuncture and Du Meridian moxibustion was taken from 3-5 days of menstrual period (spontaneous menstruation or progesterone withdrawal bleeding). The acupuncture treatment was 3 times / week, with an interval of 2-4 days, 12 times a week, 30 minutes each time; Du Meridian moxibustion is 20 minutes each time, once a week, four times a week. The initial dose of letrozole was 2.5mg/day for 5 consecutive days. The follow-up dose was determined according to the response of the subjects to the initial dose, with one month as a cycle. If not pregnant, the subjects received letrozole for up to 4 cycles to induce ovulation with acupuncture plus Du Meridian moxibustion.

Treatment:

Device: acupuncture

Drug: Letrozole

Other: Governor vessel moxibustion

Letrozole group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Letrozole was taken 3-5 days after menstruation (spontaneous menstruation or progesterone withdrawal bleeding). The initial dose of letrozole was 2.5mg/day for 5 consecutive days. The follow-up dose was determined according to the response of the subjects to the initial dose, with one month as a cycle. In the absence of pregnancy, subjects were treated with letrozole for up to four cycles.

Treatment:

Drug: Letrozole