LAPAROSCOPIC SURGICAL APPROACH FOR ECTOPIC PREGNANCY

The objective of our study is evaluation of therapeutic laparoscopy in the treatment of ectopic pregnancy. This is a prospective study carried out for the period from October 2000 till June 2004, in the department of obstetric and Gynaecology in Azadi General Hospital in Kirkuk city, north of Iraq. Surgical Laparoscopic approach was performed for 40 women with the provisional diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy. The duration of the operation ranged between 2070 minutes. Salpingostomy was carried out for 22 patients (55%), 7 patients (17.5%) had salpingectomy, one patient (2.5%) had fimbrial expression, 3 patients (7.5%) had wedge resection of ovarian ectopic, one patient (2.5%) had segmental resection, two patients (5%) had complete tubal abortion with no active bleeding, and 4 patients (10%) were converted to laparotomy. Most of the involved patients had no major intraoperative or postoperative complications with shorter hospital stay. Subsequent intrauterine pregnancy rate was 80%. No recurrent ectopic was elected in this series. In conclusion, inspite of the limited number of patients, the obtained results proved the usefulness of operative laparoscopy in the treatment of ectopic pregnancy with maximum safety and efficiency. The follow up of patients showed improvement in future fertility. More work is needed to confirm our results.