Evaluation of transabdominal ultrasonography for ectopic pregnancy

Ultrasound examination was performed on 66 patients with suspected ectopic pregnancy. Of 23 women who had the diagnosis confirmed at laparotomy, 16 (69.6%) were correctly identified on ultrasound, 4 were reported as unlikely ectopic pregnancies and 3 were undetermined. Two patients with false negative ultrasound reports had positive findings on ultrasound, but the findings were misinterpreted. Correct identification of these would have increased the true positive rate to 78.3% and decreased the false negative rate to 8.8%. There were 5 false positive reports due to ovarian cysts.