Laparoscopic surgical management of ectopic pregnancy: a district general hospital experience

This is an audit of laparoscopic management of ectopic pregnancy in a District General Hospital (DGH), using a retrospective casenote review. The study was conducted at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, a large DGH. We recorded the duration of operation, postoperative opiate requirement, length of hospital stay, operative and postoperative complications. Case notes of patients with surgically treated ectopic pregnancies between January 1996 and June 1998 (n=106) were reviewed and grouped into three categories: (1) immediate laparotomy, (2) laparoscopy followed by laparotomy, and (3) laparoscopic management. Comparisons were made between the three groups. The incidence of ectopic pregnancy was 1-91 live births. The mean age of the patients was 29.9 years (range 14-41). Seven (6.6%) patients were haemodynamically unstable and underwent immediate laparotomy, 66 (62%) patients had laparoscopic management while 33 (31%) patients had laparotomy following preliminary laparoscopy. Mean operative time in the laparoscopic management group was 61.9 minutes. The mean +/- 2 SD was 61.9+/-37.4 (range 27-107) with a mean length of hospital stay of 1.9 days (range 1-4), compared with 49.9 minutes (+/-SD 16.5 (range 35-98) and 3.9 days (range 2-8), respectively, in the laparotomy following preliminary laparoscopy group. Only one patient in the laparoscopic management group required opiate analgesia 24 hours postoperatively compared with all the patients in the immediate laparotomy group and seven patients (21%) in laparotomy following the preliminary laparoscopy group. Complications in the laparoscopic management group included wound infection and a persistent ectopic. One patient in the laparotomy group required subtotal hysterectomy for persistent bleeding from cornual ectopic, while complications in the laparotomy following the laparoscopy group consisted of minor wound infection and a case of deep venous thrombosis (DVT). Laparoscopic management of ectopic pregnancy is safe and can be carried out successfully in a DGH setting with clear advantages, including shorter hospital stay and reduced postoperative opiate requirement.