Laparoscopic management of tubal pregnancy

Early detection of an unruptured tubal pregnancy has been made possible by the recent use of vaginal sonograms, thus more conservative management can be undertaken. From February 1989 to June 1989, we attempted to treat tubal pregnancies by surgical laparoscopy at the Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. Fourteen consecutive cases of tubal pregnancy were treated by surgical laparoscopy with a success rate of 70% (10 out of 14). Six of the 10 successfully treated cases were managed conservatively. Use of the laparoscope may be considered as a major trend towards conservative tubal pregnancy treatment, such as salpingotomy for women with an unruptured ectopic pregnancy who want to conserve fertility. These 10 cases of tubal pregnancy benefited enormously from the surgical laparoscopic technique which led to a shorter hospital stay, early ambulation and resume point of normal activities within days. No complications related to surgical laparoscopy were noted in this series. Our conclusion is that surgical laparoscopy should be considered an alternative to laparotomy for the treatment of tubal pregnancy.