Laparoscopic Management of Primary Ovarian Pregnancy

Diagnosis and laparoscopic management of 12 consecutive cases of ovarian pregnancy and review of literature

We sought to determine the outcome of the laparoscopic management of ovarian ectopic pregnancy (OEP) in a United Kingdom district general hospital and reviewed the literature. We conducted a 5-year prospective cohort study of the management of OEP cases between January 2003 and January 2008. Twelve patients had OEP confirmed with histology among a cohort of 421 ectopic pregnancies. The mean gestational age was 45 days. All 12 patients had abdominal pain and 4 (33%) had vaginal bleeding. One (8%) patient became hypovolemic before laparoscopy. Four (33%) women had risk factors for ectopic pregnancy, 2 of whom were current intra-uterine contraceptive users. Preoperative diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy was made in 11 (92%) of 12 patients by transvaginal ultrasonography and OEP in 9 (75%) patients. All cases were managed by laparoscopic surgery with no conversion to laparotomy. The ovarian pregnancy was resected and the ovary conserved in 11 (92%) patients with only 1 requiring an oophorectomy. The mean operating time was 49 minutes. None of the patients needed further treatment. No complications occurred after laparoscopic surgery and the mean hospital stay was 2 days. Considering the rarity of ovarian pregnancy, this is one of the largest series of patients with OEP treated exclusively by laparoscopic surgery and highlights our recent experience of performing conservative laparoscopic surgery for most of our patients.