10 News Extra: Acupuncture and Infertility

By:Heather Van Nest

Tampa, Florida - Angela Brigato has her hands full.

She has a 2-year-old son and six-week-old twins. But according to Angela, keeping up with her little ones is a joy she is only happy to have.

Angela Brigato, Classified as Infertile: "In our case, we didn't have a problem. Structurally both my husband and I were fine, and they still could not explain why we couldn't get pregnant."

Angela was classified by doctors as having "unexplained infertility." However, she and her husband refused to give up, and resorted to in-vitro fertilization or IVF, a procedure where embryos are implanted into the uterus.

The result was their 2-year-old son, Anthony. A year-and-a-half later, Angela tried in-vitro fertilization once again.

Angela Brigato, Mother: "I knew that this time around that I wanted to do acupuncture again with the treatments right off the bat."

The result this time...twins. A boy, Aidan, and his sister, Amaya.

Angela underwent a series of acupuncture treatments with licensed and certified acupuncturist, Carolyn Huffman. The procedure involved the placement of needles on various points of Angela's body.

Carolyn Huffman, Licensed Acupuncturist: "She had 4 or 5...I believe 2 before the transfer and 2 after, and right after the transfer I told her that I felt like her abdomen was warm, and you don't usually feel that in an unpregnant woman."

So is there a scientific connection between acupuncture and fertility?

Dr. Adam Ostrzenski, Professor of Gynecology: "There is plenty of scientific evidence that acupuncture can restore either underfertile woman or if there's a scientific problem located in the brain or the ovary."

Dr. Ostrzenski is an internationally renowened professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the University of South Florida.

He told us about a study recently done in Europe that seems to explain Angela's results.

Dr. Adam Ostrzenski, Professor of Gynecology: "The study was designed to have one day having acupuncture before transferring the embryo...the difference between this group that received acupuncture and the group that did not receive was 20 babies more."

The difference for Angela, of course, was three babies more...and to her that makes all the difference in the world.