Ectopic pregnancy at Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1981-1987: a review of 176 cases.

Between September 1981 and August 1987, 242 cases of suspected ectopic pregnancy were admitted to Tikur Anbessa Teaching Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, of which 231 were confirmed at laparotomy. Over the same period of time 28,600 deliveries were conducted in the same hospital, giving a ratio of eight ectopic pregnancies to 1,000 deliveries. Review of the 176 cases records which could be retrieved revealed that 57.9% were in the age group of 20-29 years and 27% were nulliparous. The history revealed lower abdominal pain in 98.8%, amenorrhoea in 82.9% and vaginal bleeding in 73%. On clinical examination, 92% had lower abdominal tenderness, 80.6% cervical excitation tenderness, 26.7% a mass in the adnexa and 31.2% a haemoglobin level of 7 gm percent or less. In 51.7% of the cases the ectopic was on the right and in 44.4% on the left. In 37.5% of the cases more than 1,000 millilitres of blood was contained in the peritoneal cavity. Only two were cases of unruptured ectopic pregnancy. There were 5 (2.8%) cornual and 2 (1.1%) ovarian pregnancies. Culdocentesis was the most reliable diagnostic test. In the 176 cases, repeat ectopic occurred in 7.3%. In a situation like ours, where adequate diagnostic facilities are not available, ectopic pregnancy should always be suspected in women with lower abdominal pain and amenorrhoea, or lower abdominal pain and irregular vaginal bleeding.