Pregnancy outcomes after surgical treatment of ovarian pregnancy

Objective

To investigate pregnancy outcomes subsequent to ovarian pregnancy treated by surgery.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted of ovarian pregnancies that were treated by surgery at a hospital in Korea between January 1996 and December 2009.

Results

Forty-nine women with ovarian pregnancies (1.6% of all ectopic pregnancies) were treated; 28 of these patients who were followed-up for more than a year were included in the study. The most common risk factor for ovarian pregnancy was endometriosis (42.9%). Accurate diagnosis of ovarian pregnancy was made preoperatively in 7 patients (25%). Of the 28 patients, 16 (57.1%) had subsequent pregnancies: 13 (46.4%) were intrauterine pregnancies and 3 (10.7%) were tubal pregnancies. However, no subsequent ovarian pregnancies occurred. In addition, only 1 patient had secondary infertility after surgery for ovarian pregnancy.

Conclusions

After an ovarian pregnancy treated by surgery, the outcome of a subsequent pregnancy is reasonable; there is a high rate of successful subsequent pregnancy and a low rate of subsequent ectopic pregnancy or of infertility.