How To Diagnose An Ectopic Pregnancy Video

Symptoms of ectopic pregnancies. Learn about obstetrics from a doctor in this video on understanding pregnancy.

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Visit gynecologist
Watch for pain symptoms
Look for abnormal bleeding
Ask about tests, procedures and medications

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Dr. Steve Arkin is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist in Tampa Bay, Fla.

DR. STEVE ARKIN: Hi, I'm Dr. Steve Arkin. Today, I will be talking about ectopic pregnancies. Ectopic pregnancy means other site other than in the womb. Most commonly, babies are inside the womb, but occasionally they find themselves in other places. The most common is the fallopian tubes. The majority well over 90% of ectopic pregnancies are in either the left or right fallopian tube. A woman usually presents with symptoms, and the symptoms are pain and abnormal bleeding. When you look on the ultrasound, you don't see the baby inside the womb then you begin to look with a vaginal probe. You could sometimes see they'll be in the tube. If you still can't see that the baby--where the baby is, because it could be hard to find. You can do what's called hCG serial quantitative. That's the actual blood test, which is the same as the positive urine test. It's a hormone in the blood called human chorionic gonadotrophin. It normally will double every 48 days. So if your level was 1,000 and then you repeat it in 48 days and it didn't go to 2,000 with the 1,300, you'd be very suspicious of an ectopic pregnancy. If need be, you can do a laparoscopy, which is you put a scope through the bellybutton under anesthesia and you can look around, and it's quite easy to find. Most of the time, doctors will do a technique of opening up the tube and removing the baby and saving the tube, but you can also remove the tube but then the tube won't be there for future use. One is called a neosalpingostomy and one is called a neosalpingectomy, but both of those procedures are commonly done for ectopic. There's now a new medication for use for ectopic called methotrexate. It's been used for chemotherapy. It can be done in lieu of surgery, instead of surgery, for ectopic pregnancies. Very rarely ectopic pregnancies have been in the ovary, even been in the liver, been in the abdominal wall. And just like the movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger where he carried a baby, a baby can be carried outside the womb in the abdomen, so the science behind that was actually real and there have been abdominal pregnancies. They're very dangerous and very life threatening. Almost half of the women who have them have a 50 percent mortality rate. And that's kind of my summary of ectopic pregnancies for the day.

How to Diagnose an Ectopic Pregnancy Video

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