Friday 19 April 2013

Ectopic Pregnancy,The Painful Experience

I face many challenges while treating infertility cases and many of them are extremely difficult to handle. Yet, there is always a feeling of triumph and self-containment when a case with complex infertility gets resolved and the conception happens. However, the journey is not always smooth and there are some unexpected twists and turns that make me and my team greatly disappointed. There is a feeling of demanding and helplessness when all the efforts and hard work go in vain. Ectopic pregnancy is something of this kind and it is really difficult to cope up with the feelings.

What is ectopic pregnancy?

Ectopic pregnancy is actually one of the most unfortunate events that happen during the infertility treatment. In a normal pregnancy, the embryo gets implanted in the uterus. The inner wall of the uterus has special arrangement so that the embryo gets attached to it firmly and starts developing. In the ectopic pregnancy, the implantation happens outside the uterus. Among various ectopic pregnancies, the most common one is tubal pregnancy where the implantation happens in the fallopian tubes.

This is a kind of disorder that happens because of special enzymes that got produced while implantation. These enzymes trigger the fetus to get attached with any tissue, instead of the specific tissues found in the uterus. The condition is extremely dangerous and we decide to terminate the pregnancy so that the woman is not at risk of life.

Why does it happen?

Well, there are many factors behind it and the major are:

 • Age: Women conceiving after the age of 40 are more likely to get ectopic pregnancy.

Problem in the pelvic region. This is one of the significant causes. I have observed that most of the women complaining problems in the pelvic region are diagnosed with inflammation. This causes scarring of the tissues and in turn that causes ectopic pregnancy.

Structural deformities: There are women with structural deformities in the tubal region. Sometimes we need to perform surgery to remove the problem. However, there are greater risks of ectopic pregnancy in such women.

Habit: That also plays a major role in it. In some women, there is a habit of tubal pregnancy and in multiple attempts; very few get implanted in the uterus.

Are there any symptoms?

Unfortunately, there are no major symptoms in the early stage leaving experts like us unprepared. In the initial stage, they are very much confusing. However, a few signs may trigger an early alarm:

a)Pain while urination: Women should never feel pain while urinating. If there is even a slightest pain and you are in the risk bracket, then immediately the expert should be consulted. This will certainly detect it quite early.

b)Pain in the lower abdomen: Although this is very confusing and common symptom, still you should not ignore it and report to us.

c)Vaginal bleeding: It is also one of the major signs.

How to handle Ectopic Pregnancy?

Actually speaking there is nothing much left in our hands as an expert, other than terminating the pregnancy. It is absolutely fatal to continue the pregnancy and there is a great risk to the mother’s health. Termination avoids serious complications.

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