Tubal pregnancy: a review of 404 cases

In the two years - 1st January, 1973 to 31st December, 1974 - 533 patients had operation for tubal pregnancy at the Gynaecology Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. About five cases per week were seen during this period. The incidence was 44 for every thousand deliveries at the Hospital. The case notes of 404 of the 533 patients have been reviewed. The age range was 15 to 44 years; 78% were in the 21 to 35 years age group. 81.4% had had pregnancies which went beyond 28 weeks. Only 13.7% had never had an intrauterine pregnancy. Tubal pregnancy is therefore not a disease of the primarily infertile as is commonly thought. There was no significant difference between the incidence on the right side and the incidence on the left side. The ampulla was the commonest site of implantation in the tube (45%). Tubal rupture (89.6%) was commoner than tubal abortion (10.4%). The principal signs and symptoms were abdominal pain, amenorrhoea, abdominal tenderness, abdominal distension, and signs of free fluid in the abdomen, syncope, anomalous vaginal bleeding, pallor and vomiting. The absence of amenorrhoea does not rule out the possibility of an ectopic. On pelvic examination the major signs were tenderness in a fornix and cervical excitation pain. Abdominal paracentesis and culdocentesis if positive are useful in diagnosis; negative results prove nothing. Laparascopy is of great value and should be employed in the difficult case. Beware of the patient in the reproductive age with anomalous vaginal bleeding, vague abdominal pains, syncopic attacks and anaemia. The mortality rate in the series was 0.7%.