by Nora Carver

Created on: September 02, 2008

Being diagnosed as having an ectopic pregnancy (often referred to as a tubal pregnancy) can at the least be a scary and confusing thing. Knowing exactly what an ectopic pregnancy is, and how it is treated can help alleviate the emotional distress that can result from this diagnosis. An ectopic pregnancy is a serious health issue among women of childbearing age. The term ectopic pregnancy refers to the implantation of a fertilized egg somewhere other than the uterine cavity of the woman. This can include implantation in the fallopian tubes, cervix, ovaries, or abdominal wall, though usually it is in the fallopian tube. Since only the uterus is designed to expand to accommodate room for the gestation of a fetus as well as provide a normal biological network for the nutrition and growth of a fetus, this can lead to serious health complication including hemorrhaging, infertility and in some cases death. Symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy include abdominal and pelvic pain or tenderness, vaginal bleeding, and common symptoms of normal early pregnancy such as nausea, breast tenderness and fatigue.

Some of the risk factors identified among women diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy include prior incidents of pelvic inflammatory disease or PID, use of fertility drugs or other reproductive therapy, a history of prior ectopic pregnancy and increased age (women age 35-44 have a higher risk of ectopic pregnancy). Other less common risk factors have also been identified such as smoking, prior abdominal surgery and failure of progestin contraceptives such as the progesterone IUD device.

Since ectopic pregnancies do not develop like normal pregnancies and have little to no chance of survival to term as well as presenting serious health risks to the patient including maternal injury or death, ectopic pregnancies are usually terminated by the treating physician. Depending on whether or not the organ where the fertilized egg has attached itself has ruptured determines the type of treatment which may be performed.

If the ectopic pregnancy has not progressed to the point that the organ it has attached to has ruptured, treatment is relatively simple and non invasive. Most commonly, the patient is given an injection of methotrexate, a drug often used in cancer treatments which has medical properties that prevent rapid cell growth. This medication dissolves the embryonic tissue and allows the body to reabsorb it, just as in cases of natural termination of the embryo by the body.

In some

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