Ectopic Pregnancy - Symptom, Treatment And Causes

For getting pregnant, the ovary has to release an egg inside the fallopian tube, where this unfertilized egg remains for 24 hours. During this period the egg has to come in contact with a healthy sperm to be fertilized. After fertilization this egg stays within the fallopian tube for another 2-3 days, before it heads towards the uterus. The fertilized egg then attaches itself to the uterine lining and continues to develop and grow to give the formation of a baby.

But there are certain rare instances, when this fertilized egg remains within the fallopian tube with moving into the uterus or lands up elsewhere inside the abdomen which results in formation of an ectopic pregnancy. As this condition is not normal, thus in this case the pregnancy fails to continue normally, and so requires an emergency treatment in order to save the life of the gestating women. No-one can tell you why you can land up with an ectopic pregnancy. One of the most common reasons for the cause of this deadly problem can be a damage in the fallopian tube.

The main cause of an Ectopic Pregnancy is abnormal implantation of the zygote i.e the implantation outside the uterine cavity usually in the fallopian tubes. Although in the normal scenario, the fertilized egg gets embedded in the uterus lining, it gets outside of the womb and is embedded there in case of Ectopic Pregnancy.

How soon would you know if you have an Ectopic Pregnancy?

An Ectopic Pregnancy does not get diagnosed in the starting days of the pregnancy as symptoms are not shown during this period. An early scan if done can only tell if a woman has such a condition. The symptoms that develop in this abnormality usually show off in between the 4th and 12th weeks of the pregnancy, till then a woman is unaware of this.

When gestating patients are suspected of ectopic pregnancy, pregnancy tests and pelvic exam are done on the patients. Ultrasound tests may also be performed to get a peak on the conditions of the uterus and the fallopian tubes.

Because the fertilized egg just cannot survive anywhere else in a woman’s body other than her uterus, the fertilized egg must be terminated and removed to avoid serious complications in the pregnant patient.Medication and surgery, both are used as per the requirement of the patient for removing the egg from the pregnant woman’s body.

In the case of medication (if the pregnancy has not progressed very far), doctors provide injections of methotrexate for the patient to stop the tissue from growing any further and allows the body to absorb it gradually.In case of surgery, laparotomy is performed on the patient. Whereby the patient’s ectopic pregnancy or sometimes the fallopian tube is removed laparoscopically.

Though it’s hard, but women have good chances of getting pregnant again even after having an ectopic pregnancy.