Diagnosis and management of ectopic pregnancy

Abstract

Although women with ectopic pregnancy frequently have no identifiable risk factors, a prospective case-controlled study has shown that increased awareness of ectopic pregnancy and a knowledge of the associated risk factors helps identify women at higher risk in order to facilitate early and more accurate diagnosis. 11 Most risk factors are associated with risks of prior damage to the Fallopian tube (Box 1). These factors include any previous pelvic or abdominal surgery, and pelvic infection. 11 Chlamydia trachomatis has been linked to 30-50% of all ectopic pregnancies. The exact mechanism of this association is not known but it has been proposed that in addition to distortion of tubal architecture, it may to be due to an effect on the tubal microenvironment. ctopic pregnancy is more common in women attending infertility clinics 14 even in the absence of tubal disease. In addition,