Laparoscopic management of ectopic pregnancy in a resident training program

The range of procedures now routinely done through the laparoscope has continued to expand due to improved equipment for insufflation, hemostasis, and tissue manipulation, and to imaginative approaches to otherwise "routine" gynecologic problems traditionally treated by laparotomy. As with all new technologies, advocates predict that the methodology will prove to have an almost unlimited potential, while established skeptics predict that it will have a narrow applicability. With time and further clinical application, a consensus somewhere between the two positions will be reached. But while this technology develops and experience begins to accumulate, it is necessary to train residents in the technique. We discuss our experience with introducing laparoscopic management of ectopic pregnancy into a residency training program. Our results indicate a rapid learning curve, with minimal patient morbidity, brief hospitalization, and rapid convalescence.