[Treatment of fallopian tube pregnancies with prostaglandins]

In a study, the clinical use of prostaglandin F2 alpha in local and systemic application in women with ectopic pregnancies were studied (1, 9). Two different treatment schedules were defined and applied. In group A, patients with a diagnosed ectopic and beta-HCG level lower than 850 mIU/ml were treated with prostaglandin F2 alpha i.m. injected only. In group B, prostaglandin F2 alpha were injected in the chorionic cavity of the ectopic by laparoscopy after localisation with a thin needle. In spite of prostaglandin F2 alpha treatment, 6 of 30 patients (20.0%) had to be operated by microsurgery because of increasing serum beta-HCG levels. A control of tubal patency 6 month later showed one closed tube only (4.5%). Up to now, 8 spontaneous intrauterine pregnancies occurred in our study groups after successful prostaglandin F2 alpha treatment; one pregnancy was seen in a women with a single fallopian tube. The conserving treatment of one ectopic pregnancy using prostaglandin F2 alpha yields positive results, if serum beta-HCG levels are below 2000 mIU/ml.