Fertility outcomes subsequent to treatment of tubal ectopic pregnancy in younger Turkish women

Study objective: The assessment of future fertility in patients that were hospitalized with diagnosis of tubal ectopic pregnancy.

Design: Between January 1998 and September 2008, we retrospectively reviewed 219 tubal ectopic pregnancy patients who were hospitalized. The patients using contraceptive methods, underwent previous pelvic or tubal surgery, pregnancy after in vitro fertilization, over the age of 28, and extratubal ectopic pregnancies were excluded. Patients who actively attempted to conceive were included. We called all the patients to see whether they had pregnancy in 24 months, and how long they had waited for this after the operation. Overall, we could not reach 14 patients who were treated surgically (n = 9) or medically (n = 5).

Setting: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey.

Participants: Women aged between 18 and 28 years that were treated because of tubal ectopic pregnancy and have concerns about infertility.

Interventions: Medical treatment with methotrexate (n = 34), salpingectomy (n = 62) salpingostomy (n = 37).

Main outcome measures: Intrauterine pregnancy rates, ectopic pregnancy rates and mean time to pregnancy after interventions.

Results: After questionnaire: in the methotrexate group; six of 29 (20%) had no pregnancy; 23 (79%) of them conceived, but three (10%) of the pregnancies were extrauterine. Thirty-seven patients received salpingostomy and 62 patients composed the salpingectomy group. Intrauterine pregnancy rates up to 24 months were established as 65.2% in salpingectomy (n = 55) and 60.1% in the salpingostomy (n = 35) groups respectively. No significant difference was noticed when pregnancy rates were compared among three groups (P = 0.942). Mean time to pregnancy in methotrexate group was 7.8 ± 2.2 months, and in salpingostomy and salpingectomy groups was 8.7 ± 2.2 and 9.3 ± 3.1 months respectively (P = 0.841).

Conclusion: Since we found no difference in terms of pregnancy rates among three groups, medical treatment appears to be more favored with early and accurate diagnosis. After salpingectomy, patients may conceive later in life when compared with other groups so selected patients should be assessed according to their age for the decision of assisted reproductive techniques.