21 Facts About Ectopic pregnancy

Ectopic pregnancy is a complication of pregnancy in which the embryo attaches outside the uterus.

Risk factors for ectopic pregnancy include pelvic inflammatory disease, often due to chlamydia infection; tobacco smoking; prior tubal surgery; a history of infertility; and the use of assisted reproductive technology.

Detection of ectopic pregnancy is typically by blood tests for human chorionic gonadotropin and ultrasound.

Signs and symptoms of ectopic pregnancy include increased hCG, vaginal bleeding, sudden lower abdominal pain, pelvic pain, a tender cervix, an adnexal mass, or adnexal tenderness.

The IUD does not increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy, but with an IUD if pregnancy occurs it is more likely to be ectopic than intrauterine.

The exact mechanism through which chlamydia increases the risk of ectopic pregnancy is uncertain, though some research suggests that the infection can affect the structure of Fallopian tubes.

Tubal Ectopic pregnancy is when the egg is implanted in the fallopian tubes.

An ectopic pregnancy should be considered as the cause of abdominal pain or vaginal bleeding in every woman who has a positive pregnancy test.

The primary goal of diagnostic procedures in possible ectopic pregnancy is to triage according to risk rather than establishing pregnancy location.

The diagnostic ultrasonographic finding in ectopic pregnancy is an adnexal mass that moves separately from the ovary.

The majority of cases of ectopic pregnancy will have serial serum hCG levels that increase more slowly than would be expected with an IUP, or decrease more slowly than would be expected with a failing PUL.

An ovarian Ectopic pregnancy is differentiated from a tubal Ectopic pregnancy by the Spiegelberg criteria.

Maternal morbidity and mortality from extrauterine Ectopic pregnancy are high as attempts to remove the placenta from the organs to which it is attached usually lead to uncontrollable bleeding from the attachment site.

Persistent ectopic pregnancy refers to the continuation of trophoblastic growth after a surgical intervention to remove an ectopic pregnancy.

The true nature of the pregnancy can be an ongoing viable intrauterine pregnancy, a failed pregnancy, an ectopic pregnancy or rarely a persisting PUL.

Where the hCG level does not spontaneously decline and no intrauterine or ectopic pregnancy is identified on follow-up transvaginal ultrasonography.

Early treatment of an ectopic pregnancy with methotrexate is a viable alternative to surgical treatment which was developed in the 1980s.

Surgeons use laparoscopy or laparotomy to gain access to the pelvis and can either incise the affected Fallopian and remove only the Ectopic pregnancy or remove the affected tube with the Ectopic pregnancy (salpingectomy).

Fertility following ectopic pregnancy depends upon several factors, the most important of which is a prior history of infertility.

Salpingectomy as a treatment for ectopic pregnancy is one of the common cases when the principle of double effect can be used to justify accelerating the death of the embryo by doctors and patients opposed to outright abortions.

Ectopic pregnancy's had no problems or complications during the 38-week pregnancy.