Effect of Fire-Needle Combined With Regular Acupuncture on Pregnancy Outcome in Patients With Recurrent Implantation Failure Undergoing In Vitro Fertilization

March 8, 2026 updated by: Cui Hong Zheng, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

This study aims to evaluate whether fire-needle combined with regular acupuncture improves pregnancy outcomes in patients with recurrent implantation failure (RIF), compared to no or regular acupuncture.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted at a university-affiliated hospital. One hundred RIF patients undergoing embryo transfer between July 2024 and June 2025 were assigned to three groups: a non-acupuncture group, a regular acupuncture group, and a fire needle combination group (receiving both fire needle and regular acupuncture).

Key outcome measures, including the β-hCG positive rate, clinical pregnancy rate (CPR), and miscarriage rate (MR), were compared among the three groups.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

100

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • China
    • Hubei
      • Wuhan, Hubei, China, 430030
        • Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • (1)18 ≤age ≤40 years; (2) ≥2 previous failures of high-quality embryo transfer without clinical pregnancy

Exclusion Criteria:

  • (1) preimplantation genetic testing cycles; (2) use of donor oocytes; (3) missing key data on treatment or outcome

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: non-acupuncture group
Other: no acupuncture
no acupuncture
Experimental: regular acupuncture group
Device: regular acupuncture
Regular acupuncture
Experimental: fire needle combination group
Device: Fire needle combination group
fire needle combination group (receiving both fire needle and regular acupuncture)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
β-hCG-positive pregnancy
Time Frame: 1 year
Test for hCG in the blood day 14 post-transfer
1 year
Clinical pregnancy
Time Frame: 1 year
ultrasonographic detection of an intrauterine gestational sac following embryo transfer
1 year
Miscarriage
Time Frame: 1 year
defined as spontaneous pregnancy loss occurring after ultrasound-confirmed clinical pregnancy
1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

July 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 30, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

October 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 25, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 8, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 10, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 10, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 8, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • TJ-IRB202503020
  • 81874388 and 82274308 (Other Grant/Funding Number: National Natural Science Foundation of China)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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