Ectopic pregnancy - laparoscopic management in a district general hospital

A 2-year retrospective study was carried out in a district general hospital to review the outcome of laparoscopic management versus laparotomy for the management of ectopic pregnancy. Outcome measures included operating time, postoperative analgesia requirements, complications, length of hospital stay, the post-ectopic intrauterine pregnancy rates and the recurrent ectopic pregnancy rates over an observational period of 16 months. Forty-nine consecutive women were seen. Twenty-six were managed laparoscopically and 23 were managed by laparotomy. There was no significant difference between the operating times and complications but the laparoscopy group had significantly fewer doses of opiate analgesia (P<0.05), shorter length of stay (P<0.05), and significantly higher post-ectopic intrauterine pregnancy rates (P<0.05) compared with the laparotomy group. Laparoscopic management of ectopic pregnancy is a viable alternative to conventional laparotomy in district general hospitals.