Fertility after ectopic pregnancy in relation to background factors and surgical treatment.

To study the importance of certain background factors and surgical treatment, the obstetric outcome in 205 women consecutively treated for ectopic pregnancy was analyzed by means of questionnaires 4 to 5.5 years after surgery. The response rate was 83.4% and, among women desiring pregnancy (n = 112), the total pregnancy rate was 75.9% and the delivery rate 53.6%. The total incidence of repeat ectopics was 27.3%, and the proportion of women who had a repeat ectopic pregnancy but no delivery was 20.5%. Six of seven women having an ectopic pregnancy with a copper intrauterine contraceptive device in situ had a normal delivery during the follow-up period. The subsequent fertility among nonresponders appeared lower than among responding women. A number of background factors present at the time of surgery were correlated to subsequent infertility, e.g., history of infertility and previous abdominal surgery. Conversely, there was no correlation between the fertility outcome and the type of operative procedure.