How dangerous is an ectopic pregnancy?

The article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor II Tran Thi Mai Huong - Obstetrician and Gynecologist - Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital. The doctor has 25 years of experience in examination and treatment in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology, lower line surgery, laparoscopic surgery.

An ectopic pregnancy is a pregnancy in which a fertilized egg implants somewhere else, instead of inside the uterus. The most common location is in the fallopian tube, when rupture easily causes many life-threatening complications. Understanding the dangers of ectopic pregnancy presented below will help women partly take preventive measures and orientate them to handle them in time.

The sites of attachment for ectopic pregnancy are not the lumen of the uterus, which does not have a favorable structure for fetal implantation. Therefore, when the gestational age increases, the placenta develops strongly, the penetration of the placental spines to find sources of nutrients to nourish the fetus easily disrupts the structure that the fetus "eats on".
About 90% of ectopic pregnancies are located in the fallopian tubes. Here, the muscular layers of the fallopian tubes are extremely thin and loose. Therefore, a common symptom of an ectopic pregnancy is heavy bleeding. Bleeding from the vagina for several days after a missed period and pregnancy have been confirmed. Blood is black and small amount. However, due to prolonged continuous bleeding, it can easily lead to chronic anemia, fatigue, and poor concentration at work.
At the same time, an ectopic pregnancy is always likely to rupture at any time. If the ectopic pregnancy ruptures, blood rushes into the abdomen, the patient presents with sudden severe abdominal pain, may faint, and is at high risk of hemorrhagic shock. The skin is blue, the mucous membranes are pale, the pulse is fast and light, and the blood pressure is difficult to detect. If not taken to the emergency room in time, the bleeding situation is not compensated for blood, fluid replacement or effective volume maintenance, the patient is prone to vascular collapse and death due to ectopic pregnancy.

In addition, once the patient has lost a lot of blood, the patient is forced to receive a blood transfusion to make up for it. As a result, the treatment time and cost will increase. Besides, patients also have to face the risks when blood transfusion causes, such as infection, allergies, anaphylaxis...

One of the risk factors for an ectopic pregnancy is a previous history of an ectopic pregnancy. Statistics have shown that, after an ectopic pregnancy, the likelihood of repeating this condition is 7 to 13 times higher than that of someone who has never had an ectopic pregnancy.
The reason for this increased risk is that the causes of ectopic pregnancy are difficult to completely solve, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, previous surgery. fallopian tube surgery, previous miscarriage, oral contraceptive use, IUD insertion,...

The rate of infertility after ectopic pregnancy is quite high, up to 50% after ectopic pregnancy.

In cases of ectopic pregnancy detected late, sometimes it is found that when the fetus has ruptured, the structure of the genital organs is difficult to be preserved. If the ectopic pregnancy is located in the fallopian tube, the patient needs to be quickly managed by surgical removal of the unilateral fallopian tube at the corner of the uterus.
Even if the pregnancy in the fallopian tube is detected early at the time of not rupture, conservative treatment cannot fully guarantee this intoxication. Laparoscopic surgery to cut the fallopian tube to remove the gestational sac also causes scarring in the fallopian tube lumen. As a result, in subsequent cycles, either the ovulated egg does not move smoothly out of the uterus to fertilize, or the fertilized embryo repeats implantation in the fallopian tube.
Ectopic pregnancy is usually detected quite early, at 4 - 5 weeks of pregnancy. Therefore, the first prenatal check-up plays a very important role in preventing and reducing complications when having an ectopic pregnancy. The first trimester is the most sensitive time during pregnancy. Currently, Vinmec International General Hospital has many maternity packages (12-27-36 weeks), in which the 12-week maternity package helps to monitor the health of mother and baby right from the beginning of pregnancy, to early detection and timely intervention of health problems. In addition to the usual services, the maternity monitoring program from 12 weeks has special services that other maternity packages do not have such as: Double Test or Triple Test to screen for fetal malformations; Quantitative angiogenesis factor test for preeclampsia; thyroid screening test; Rubella test; Testing for parasites transmitted from mother to child seriously affects the baby's brain and physical development after birth.