Background:
Ectopic Pregnancies(EP) are a pregnancy related complication that can have significant morbidity. Due to this fact and the fact that most present after rupture, surgical management forms the cornerstone of management of most EP. We set out to conduct an audit ,for a 10-year period, on laparoscopically managed EP at a tertiary referral center with focus on surgical techniques used, outcomes and correlations of complications to outcomes.
Methods:
This study was designed as a Retrospective Clinical Audit based at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH). Study population was all women admitted to AKUH with a diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy that was surgically managed between the period of January 1st 2011 to December 31st 2020. Analysis of data was done against a pre-set checklist. Descriptive statistics for continuous variables was calculated and tabulated in graphs and tables. SPSS version 22 was used for analysis of data.
Results:
A total of 324 patients were recruited in the analysis of surgical treatment of EP. 86.1% had a total salpingectomy done; 5.2% had a partial salpingectomy done; 2.2% had a salpingostomy done; 4% had a fimbrial milking done; 1.9% had resection of the EP and 0.6% had and oophorectomy done. 64.8% of the surgeries used bipolar and scissors; 21.2% used endoloop while 5.6%(n = 18) used a combination of instruments. Most (92.4%; n = 302) of the patient did not require conversion to an open procedure. The rate of conversion decreased with advancing years. Almost all the surgeries were less than 2 hours (91.7%,n = 297) with only 1(0.3%) going past 3 hours. Most of the surgeries did not have complications (96.3%, n = 334). Duration of stay after surgery varied from 1–13 days. Most of the patients stayed for 2 days (90.8%, n = 296); 5.8%(n = 19) had a stay of 3 days and 3.4%(n = 11) had a stay of more than 4 days. Only 50 (15.2% of 347) patients in the present study had a documented subsequent pregnancy. 42 patients had an intrauterine pregnancy: 84%,n = 42 and 16%,n = 8 had a repeat ectopic pregnancy.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the present study shows that total salpingectomy is the most common surgical treatment option for patients with EP with bipolar and scissors technique being used frequently. Low conversion to open surgery rates are observed with a decline being seen as the centers’ experience grows over the years. Surgery duration and hospital stay are within the expected norms for laparoscopically managed EP when compared to more experienced centers. Moreover, the low complication rate in the present study can be attributed to the advancing experience with EP over the years coupled with the low conversion rate to open surgery hence accrued benefits from a laparoscopic approach. Lastly, most of the patients with a recurred EP had had total salpingectomy pointing towards an inherent tubal disorder causing the recurrence.