TITLE:
Ectopic Pregnancy in a Referral Hospital in the Volta Region of Ghana West Africa
AUTHORS:
Augustine A. Oppong, Hope Y. Agbemenyah, Innocent Afeke, Ibrahim Jamfaru, Irene Attachie, Verner N. Orish
KEYWORDS:
Ectopic Pregnancy, Lower Abdominal Pain, Vaginal Bleeding, Transnvaginal Ultrasound, Tubal Rupture
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.3 No.9,
September
6,
2016
ABSTRACT: Background: Ectopic pregnancy is still a global problem for women of reproductive age with increasing burden of the disease and increasing mortality especially for women living developing world like Africa. In Ghana studies evaluating the burden of ectopic pregnancy have been conducted in major centres like Korle-Bu and KATH but few in other centres. This study tends to evaluate the prevalence, clinical presentation and finding of ectopic pregnancy in a referral hospital in the Volta region of Ghana. Methodology: This was a 3 years (2013-2016) retrospective review of all gynaecological admission in the Volta regional hospital. All ectopic pregnancy cases/ record were identified, retrieved and information on the socio-demographics, clinical presentations, intraoperative findings and outcome of surgery were all extracted for analysis. Result: A prevalence of 2.05% (53/2582) was recorded over the study period. 58.5% (31/53) of the women were married and between the age group of 21 - 30. 47.2% (25/53) had primary school education. Lower abdominal pain was common in 98.1% (52//53), 69.2% (37/53) had vaginal bleeding while 96.4% (51/53). Fallopian tube pregnancy was seen in 96.2% (51/53) while 3.8% (2/53) were abdominal pregnancy. Tubal rupture and heamoperitoneum were seen in 73.6% (39/53) of the women. 78.4% (40/51) of the fallopian tube pregnancy occurred at the ampulla. All the women in this study were successfully managed with radical surgery. Conclusion: There is still the need to evaluate the prevalence of ectopic pregnancy in the region. Proper education of women of reproductive age and provision of equipment and skills to enable early diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy is very necessary in ensuring less radical and traumatic management with less implication on fertility of women post-surgery.