TREATMENT, FAILURES AND COMPLICATIONS OF ECTOPIC PREGNANCY - CHANGES OVER A 20 YEAR PERIOD

Data from all 225 women operated on for ectopic pregnancy in 1992-1994 at Sahlgrenska University Hospital were collected and compared with t hree previous cross-sectional investigations from our hospital (1975-1 979, 1981-1982 and 1986-1987) in order to evaluate the extent to which surgical treatment and post-operative complications have changed over a 20 year period, Laparoscopic surgery, which was not possible in the 1970s, was used in almost 85% of the ectopic pregnancies in 1992-1994 , Conservative treatment was still the most frequently used technique, The complication rate was 1.2% in 1975-1979 when only laparotomies we re carried out, After the introduction of laparoscopic surgery (1986-1 987), the complication rate rose significantly (7.3%) and continued to increase even when this procedure was established as routine (14.2% i n 1992-1994), Post-operative complications were most frequent after co nservative laparoscopic surgery (24.4%) while there were no complicati ons after laparotomies. In spite of increasing complication rates the frequency of patients in pre-shock, as well as the proportion of patie nts with heavy intra-abdominal bleeding and tubal rupture, decreased o ver time.