Chronic ectopic pregnancy: a clinical analysis of 62 cases

Chronic ectopic pregnancy is a form of tubal pregnancy in which salient minor ruptures or abortions of an ectopic pregnancy instead of a single episode of bleeding, incites an inflammatory response often leading to the formation of a pelvic mass. Its clinical features are often confusing, and laboratory evaluations are often misleading. Surgery for chronic ectopic pregnancy is frequently difficult since chronic inflammatory changes and adhesions distort the normal anatomy. In the present retrospective study, its incidence was found to be 20.3% (n = 62) in a series of 305 ectopic pregnancies. A pelvic mass of varying sonographic appearance, mostly with a nonhomogenous echo pattern, was demonstrated in all 55 patients in whom transvaginal sonographic evaluation was performed preoperatively. Although most of the patients [91.9% (n = 57)] had a positive serum beta HCG value, 5 patients had a negative test value. Laparotomy resulted in 40 salpingectomies, 19 salpingo-oophorectomies, and 3 total abdominal hysterectomies with salpingo-oophorectomies. One patient had a incidental cystotomy and 2 an incidental colotomy. We conclude that chronic ectopic pregnancy is not rare although little is mentioned about it as a clinical entity in the gynaecological literature. With increased awareness of its mildly symptomatic and protracted clinical course, and with proper interpretation of laboratory evaluations, a preoperative diagnosis can be made in the majority of the cases.