Ectopic Pregnancy

Abstract

Ectopic pregnancy may be the only life-threatening disease in which prevalence has increased as mortality has declined¹. The most prominent theory to explain this phenomenon involves technological advances that allow the diagnosis of pregnancy before menses are missed, combined with a heightened awareness and aggressiveness on the physician's part in acting on increased suspicion. An estimated 88,400 ectopic pregnancies were diagnosed in the United States in 1989; thus, this is a problem commonly encountered by physicians caring for women of reproductive age¹. As diagnosis occurs earlier in gestation, the therapeutic alternatives are changing.Laparotomy, once the standard of . . .