Laparoscopic Strategy for Heterotopic Interstitial Pregnancy Following Assisted Reproductive Techniques

Heterotopic interstitial pregnancy (HIP) is a rare but potentially life-threatening condition that occurs more commonly in the setting of assisted reproductive technology (ART). It is significant to introduce a safe and effective laparoscopic strategy to manage HIP following the use of ART.

This study included 9 cases of patients with HIP who underwent laparoscopic management in our department. Our approach involves placement of a purse-string suture around the cornua of the uterus followed by removal of the interstitial pregnancy using a flushing technique. This is followed by repair of the uterine cornua, leaving the intrauterine pregnancy (IUP) undisturbed. The outcomes were reported regarding surgical complications during the procedure as well as outcomes for the remaining IUP including gestational age at delivery and any neonatal adverse events.

Five of the 9 cases were asymptomatic at presentation. All cases underwent laparoscopic management with successful removal of the interstitial gestational product and preservation of the IUP. With the exception of one case that was lost to followup, all cases resulted in full-term delivery. The average intraoperative blood loss was 24.44 ± 14.23 mL and the average operation time was 70.44 ± 22.48 minutes. There were no postoperative complications, including persistent ectopic pregnancy, rupture of the uterus, spontaneous abortion, or preterm delivery. All newborns for whom data was available were healthy.

This laparoscopic strategy is a safe, relatively simple, effective, and minimally invasive approach to address the challenging case of HIP after ART in the first trimester.