Can I be pregnant? – Diagnostic challenges in ruptured chronic ectopic pregnancy

Ectopic pregnancy is an obstetric emergency which accounts for 4% of all pregnancy-related deaths. All women of child bearing age with abdominal pain or vaginal bleeding presenting to the Emergency Department should be evaluated forectopic pregnancy. However, there have been many reported cases...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bhasyani Nagaretnam, Shamsuriani Md Jamal, Ng, BK, Janisha SR
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2021
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18288/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18288/1/25_ms0436_pdf_79787.pdf
_version_ 1848814532356472832
author Bhasyani Nagaretnam,
Shamsuriani Md Jamal,
Ng, BK
Janisha SR,
author_facet Bhasyani Nagaretnam,
Shamsuriani Md Jamal,
Ng, BK
Janisha SR,
author_sort Bhasyani Nagaretnam,
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Ectopic pregnancy is an obstetric emergency which accounts for 4% of all pregnancy-related deaths. All women of child bearing age with abdominal pain or vaginal bleeding presenting to the Emergency Department should be evaluated forectopic pregnancy. However, there have been many reported cases of diagnostic challenges of ectopic pregnancy. One rare variant of ectopic pregnancy that can be easily overlooked is chronic ectopic pregnancy. We present this case of a 39-year-old female, who presented with acute abdomen and free fluid in her abdomen. Urine pregnancy test indicated she was not pregnant. However, intraoperative findings confirmed left tubular pregnancy. We would like to highlight three major diagnostic challenges we faced in this case i.e.; (i) women of child bearing age with abdominal pain should always be evaluated for ectopic pregnancy; (ii) diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy should not be dismissed even though the pregnancy test is negative; and (iii) the role of computed tomography (CT) scan in acute abdomen of unclear aetiology. As a rule, all haemodynamically unstable acute abdomen should be sent to the operation theatre. Haemodynamically stable patients should be carefully evaluated to facilitate surgical management.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T00:35:35Z
format Article
id oai:generic.eprints.org:18288
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-15T00:35:35Z
publishDate 2021
publisher Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:182882022-03-25T01:59:50Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18288/ Can I be pregnant? – Diagnostic challenges in ruptured chronic ectopic pregnancy Bhasyani Nagaretnam, Shamsuriani Md Jamal, Ng, BK Janisha SR, Ectopic pregnancy is an obstetric emergency which accounts for 4% of all pregnancy-related deaths. All women of child bearing age with abdominal pain or vaginal bleeding presenting to the Emergency Department should be evaluated forectopic pregnancy. However, there have been many reported cases of diagnostic challenges of ectopic pregnancy. One rare variant of ectopic pregnancy that can be easily overlooked is chronic ectopic pregnancy. We present this case of a 39-year-old female, who presented with acute abdomen and free fluid in her abdomen. Urine pregnancy test indicated she was not pregnant. However, intraoperative findings confirmed left tubular pregnancy. We would like to highlight three major diagnostic challenges we faced in this case i.e.; (i) women of child bearing age with abdominal pain should always be evaluated for ectopic pregnancy; (ii) diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy should not be dismissed even though the pregnancy test is negative; and (iii) the role of computed tomography (CT) scan in acute abdomen of unclear aetiology. As a rule, all haemodynamically unstable acute abdomen should be sent to the operation theatre. Haemodynamically stable patients should be carefully evaluated to facilitate surgical management. Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2021-12 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18288/1/25_ms0436_pdf_79787.pdf Bhasyani Nagaretnam, and Shamsuriani Md Jamal, and Ng, BK and Janisha SR, (2021) Can I be pregnant? – Diagnostic challenges in ruptured chronic ectopic pregnancy. Medicine & Health, 16 (2). pp. 301-308. ISSN 2289-5728 https://medicineandhealthukm.com/toc/16/2
spellingShingle Bhasyani Nagaretnam,
Shamsuriani Md Jamal,
Ng, BK
Janisha SR,
Can I be pregnant? – Diagnostic challenges in ruptured chronic ectopic pregnancy
title Can I be pregnant? – Diagnostic challenges in ruptured chronic ectopic pregnancy
title_full Can I be pregnant? – Diagnostic challenges in ruptured chronic ectopic pregnancy
title_fullStr Can I be pregnant? – Diagnostic challenges in ruptured chronic ectopic pregnancy
title_full_unstemmed Can I be pregnant? – Diagnostic challenges in ruptured chronic ectopic pregnancy
title_short Can I be pregnant? – Diagnostic challenges in ruptured chronic ectopic pregnancy
title_sort can i be pregnant? – diagnostic challenges in ruptured chronic ectopic pregnancy
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18288/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18288/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18288/1/25_ms0436_pdf_79787.pdf