Parentpedia

What Experts Say^*

To understand an ectopic pregnancy, first you need to understand how conception works:

• Each month your ovaries release an egg and this egg sits in one of your two fallopian tubes waiting for the sperm to come and fertilize it.
• In most cases once the egg is fertilized, it travels down to your uterus and implants in the uterine wall.

In an ectopic pregnancy, the fertilized egg doesn't make it down to the uterus and instead implants in the tube wall where there isn't room for it to grow. (Very rarely fertilized eggs implant in other places outside of the uterus but the vast majority of times, an ectopic pregnancy is one that's developing in the fallopian tubes.)

If the ectopic pregnancy isn't found before the fertilized egg outgrows the space, the tube may burst. This can result in the loss of the tube and even – if not diagnosed in time – cause the woman to bleed to death.

Symptoms

The symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy include:

• vaginal spotting or bleeding
• dizziness
• abdominal pain
• lower back pain that feels sharp or stabbing
• shoulder pain (a side effect of internal bleeding)

Treatment

Doctors or midwives diagnose ectopic pregnancies through a pelvic exam and via ultrasound. If the doctor or midwife does see an ectopic pregnancy, she may use an injection of methotrexate, a chemical that stops the developing tissue. If the pregnancy is further along, she may order surgery to remove it.

Causes

Ectopic pregnancies are often – but not always – caused by obstruction in the fallopian tubes. This can happen if you suffer from endometriosis (when the lining of the uterus outside the uterus) or from pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).

About 1.5 per 1000 pregnancies result in an ectopic pregnancy. Women who have had one ectopic pregnancy are more likely to have another one but, according to Comprehensive Gynecology, about one-third of those women go on to have healthy pregnancies.