Acupuncture as a therapeutic treatment option for threatened miscarriage

While it is known that 50-70% of miscarriages occur due to chromosomal abnormalities, the potential for therapeutic intervention amongst the remaining percentage of women remains unknown. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies have the potential to provide supportive care for women presenting with threatened miscarriage. Within fertility research, acupuncture demonstrates beneficial hormonal responses with decreased miscarriage rates, raising the possibility acupuncture may promote specific beneficial effects in early pregnancy. With the lack of current medical options for women presenting with threatened miscarriage it is timely to examine the possible treatment benefits of providing CAM therapies such as acupuncture.Despite vaginal bleeding being a common complication of early pregnancy there is often reluctance from practitioners to discuss with women and medical personal how and why CAM may be beneficial. In this debate article, the physiological processes of early pregnancy together with the concept of providing supportive care and acupuncture are examined. The aim is to raise awareness and promote discussion as to the beneficial role CAM may have for women presenting with threatened miscarriage.Vaginal bleeding is a common complication of pregnancy, with an estimated 20% of pregnant women experiencing this in the first 12 weeks of their pregnancy [1]. Threatened miscarriage involves vaginal bleeding with a viable fetus under 20 weeks gestation and a cervix that remains closed [2]. While a pregnancy can be established through ultrasound diagnostics detecting the presence of an interuturine gestational sack, it is recommended that diagnosis of threatened miscarriage viability be determined by the presence of a fetal heart beat [3]. While the risk of subsequent pregnancy loss is reduced following this confirmation of cardiac activity, these pregnancies remain at risk. Women presenting with light vaginal bleeding have twice the rate of miscarriage