How to identify an ectopic pregnancy

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Ectopic pregnancy often occurs in women of different ages, the first symptoms can be noticed already in the early stages, but it also happens that girls do not pay attention to alarming symptoms. If you do not seek help from a doctor in time, the embryo will grow, thereby putting pressure on the walls of the tubes, which can cause them to break, causing serious bleeding.

Such a pathology does not provide a woman with the opportunity to bear a child and give birth to a full-fledged one. In this case, the ectopic location of the embryo poses a danger to the life and health of the girl. Therefore, at the first symptoms, you should seek help from a gynecologist.

Possible types of pathologies

The symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy are difficult to identify, especially in the early stages. We will now talk about what kind of pathology is. This type of pregnancy is subdivided into separate forms, they depend on where the ovum is fixed and begins to develop.

Several types can be distinguished:

1. Pipe. In this case, the egg is fixed in the tube and begins to develop there. This form is considered the most common and very dangerous.
2. Cervical … The embryo reaches the cervix and remains there, in this case it is necessary to remove the ovum as soon as possible.
3. Abdominal. It is not so common, the embryo may be extremely rare in the abdominal cavity.
4. Ovarian. Here, the egg is fertilized directly next to the ovary and is attached directly to this organ. As it grows, it can lead to rupture of the ovary and bleeding.
5. Rudimentary. The ovum passes into the uterine horn, and begins its development there, in modern medicine, doctors have learned to maintain this type of pregnancy, but this is not always the case.

In the early stages, it is almost impossible to determine the presence of a pathological pregnancy, since there are no symptoms, and the girl believes that the embryo is in the uterus. You can find out about such a pathology in the first weeks only if you undergo an ultrasound examination.

When can you learn about pathology

Usually, doctors diagnose an ectopic pregnancy after its termination, in which case a woman may experience a spontaneous abortion, or a ruptured tube. The gestation period varies, but is usually between four and six weeks.

But there are also cases when pregnancy continues to develop, and pathology is detected on ultrasound. In medicine, there are cases when an ectopic pregnancy was carried up to 27 weeks.

Possible reasons

Before dealing with the symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy, you should find out why such a pathology occurs in the early stages. There are several factors that provoke the fixation of the ovum outside the uterus:

1. Use of hormonal contraceptives … This is a fairly common reason why a fertilized egg remains in the ovary or becomes fixed in the fallopian tube.
2. Having an ectopic pregnancy in anamnesis women.
3. Disruption of the fallopian tubes … This can happen with chronic gynecological diseases. The fallopian tubes cannot fully contract, so the egg does not enter the uterus. As a result, the embryo remains in the tube and is fixed there, starting its development.
4. Endometriosis diseases … Usually, with such a pathology, the egg cannot gain a foothold in the uterus at all and a miscarriage occurs, but the embryo can gain a foothold in the cervical part of the uterus.
5. Tumor processespassing in the uterine appendages.
6. Abnormal structure of the fallopian tubes, they can be too narrow or twisted, then the ovum cannot fully move along the fallopian tubes and is fixed there.
7. Scarringthat formed on the fallopian tubes after undergoing surgery. Also, such scars form after abortion, which makes it difficult for the egg to move.
8. Woman taking special drugsthat stimulate ovulation, or uses other methods of reproduction.
9. Slow sperm. In this case, the egg is waiting for fertilization in the fallopian tube for too long, so it is fixed there.

To exclude a possible pathology, doctors strongly recommend that you undergo an examination before planning pregnancy, and also as a prophylaxis every six months. It is difficult to identify the symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy, especially in the early stages, so this pathology is very dangerous.

The main signs of pathology

Experts say that it is difficult to detect the symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy, especially in the early stages. The detection of pathology usually occurs if a woman is assigned an ultrasound scan at an early stage of pregnancy, or when the fallopian tube ruptures.

But still, there are several symptoms that can tell about such a pathology, and if a girl encounters such signs, she should seek help from a doctor as soon as possible.

The first thing to note is not just a delay in menstruation, but their slight discharge. In this case, a delay may be present for several days, and only then there are scanty discharge. There may also be bouts of pain in the lower abdomen, this is how the body reacts to the stretching of the fallopian tube.

The pain syndrome is characterized by a pulling and aching character, most often the pain is given to the lumbar and anus.

As statistics show, with an ectopic pregnancy, women have the following symptoms:

• a delay in menstruation with such a pathology is observed in almost 80% of women;
• almost 70% of patients experience pain attacks that are localized in the lower abdomen, and have a different character;
• early signs of toxicosis are present in more than half of women with an ectopic pregnancy;
• a slight increase in the mammary glands is observed in about 35% of women who are faced with improper fixation of the ovum.

Doctors note that pathology can be determined by some signs during examination:

• the fallopian tube is enlarged, which is clearly visible on palpation of the appendages, this suggests that the embryo is not fixed correctly;
• the cervix becomes bluish and looser;
• if the doctor tries to deviate the uterus, this leads to acute pain in the patient.

On examination, the gynecologist may note that the size of the uterus does not correspond to the actual period of pregnancy, this may indicate that the ovum is not fixed correctly. It is worth considering that no doctor can accurately diagnose without conducting a full examination.

To clarify the diagnosis, an ultrasound scan is performed, and the woman also takes a blood test for hormones. If the amount of progesterone is less than necessary, this will indicate a pathological pregnancy.

Possible treatment options

If the doctor has identified the symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy, then even at an early stage it will not be possible to save the fetus. This pathology is serious, therefore, it requires immediate surgical intervention. In some cases, doctors dispense with medications. Both of these methods are used to remove the ovum from the fallopian tube.

Drug treatment

If the problem was identified early, while the woman's life is not in danger, doctors can use a medication method of treatment. Usually a drug called Methotrexate is used, these tablets help to terminate a pregnancy in the first weeks, and also contribute to the resorption of the ovum.

This method has a lot of advantages, for example, doctors will not remove the fallopian tube, which makes it possible to get pregnant normally in the future.

Surgery

There are several options for surgical removal of the ovum, laparoscopy is considered the safest. The operation is performed under general anesthesia, while the doctor constantly monitors the process using an ultrasound machine.

But this option of removing the embryo is possible only in the early stages of pregnancy, later it will be necessary to carry out a full-fledged strip operation, during which the woman's fallopian tube is removed, which reduces the chances of a normal pregnancy in the future. The recovery period after laparoscopy is much shorter than after abdominal surgery.