The troubling number of IVF patients paying thousands for treatments with ‘no proof’ they work

Four in five IVF patients are paying thousands of dollars for add-on treatments with little or no proof they help getting them pregnant.

Acupuncture, herbal medicine, endometrial scratch, even aspirin, were among the treatments listed in the University of Melbourne research.

Dr Sarah Lensen, Research Fellow in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Melbourne, said the regulation of IVF was “quite patchy” in Australia.

“We don’t really know what drives the use of IVF add-ons, especially in Australia, but it’s probably driven a little bit by the IVF industry and the professionals, and a bit by the patients, too, who often go into the clinic and have already read up a lot about these things and ask for them and really want to have them,” Dr Lensen said.

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