Ectopic PG - Is it standard to remove tube....

[JeremyVile]

when the EP has not ruptured?

Seems very drastic to me, I thought they only removed the tube after a rupture or if it's badly scarred?

If surgery is required to treat it (rather than drugs) then you are supposed to be less likely to get a recurrance if it's removed rather than repaired as I understood it.

the growing foetus can cause quite a bit of internal damage including hydrosalpinx (which is an infection that if untreated can lead to infertility)

Mine had ruptured so tube went. If they can do laproscopic or methotrexate procedure then the tube can be saved but may lead to scarring if laproscopy done.
these need to be picked up dead early to be done this way though
mine was only 4 days after period due but was possibly double embryo in slimmest part of tube (scarred from cysts apparently)

They repair the second tube rather than remove it if they can if it's the only one left.

mine had also ruptured at 6w4d

I had a tube repair done (had surgery at 8 weeks pregnant, on verge of rupture), and the surgeon that did mine prefers to repair, and has apparently never had a repeat ectopic in a tube he has repaired.

However, the standard advice is that a repaired tube can be more prone to an ectopic due to internal damage etc.

yes, like silverfrog says it can be dodgy to have a repaired tube (although i like the sound of your guy, sf. )

wrt my experience, i was able to have methotrexate the first time because my hcgs were low enough for the protocol. it's a chemo drug, basically stops things growing. so maybe the person you're thinking of has high hcgs already, so they're not able to do metho and are also reasoning that by this stage the tube will be irreparably damaged?

for me, i had a second ep in the same tube, presumably because even the low hcg embryo was there long enough to do damage, so i didn't really sleep easy until that tube was gone.
once it is gone you have (as i recall) a 15% chance of the fertilised egg migrating from the other side in any case, so it's not like you have a sharp drop to 50%.

are you looking for more info, JV? the ectopic pregnancy trust have a website, they're absolute lifesavers.

he was a great surgeon, aitch. only found out about his success rate when I was back in his room waiting for the results of another early scan - luckily it turned out to be an ovarian cyst (harmless) but he was really worried for a bit (for me as well as for his stats) as he'd never had a repeat ectopic post repair, and thought I was going to be his first one... and all carried out in the wilds of Africa, too...

incidentally, both dds have been conceived following ovulation on the side of repaired tube (not sure whether I notice ovulation on that side more due to scar tissue, or whether the other side just doesn't work as well....)

oh, and agree about the ectopic pregnancy trust - saved my sanity for years following my ectopic.

mine too, sf, izzie is a goddess in my eyes.

Agree with aitch and sf,the forum helped me tremendously after my ectopic.

My tube never ruptured (I was around 8-9wks),and my surgeon was most pleased he could save mine via laproscopy ,I'm grateful as I went on to have ds

JV, has this happened to you or someone you know? tell them about the ept site if so.

Thank you everybody, I really appreciate hearing your experiences.
It's clearly more complicated than I thought re removal of the tube. I thought the hospital were choosing the easiest option for them, regardless of the consequences.
It's not me but a friend going through this at the moment and I will certainly pass on the website.
The drug treatment is unsuitable due to higher hgc levels.
Very, very good to hear about fertility not dropping by 50%. The doctors seem to have given her this impression , though to be fair she is not taking in most of what they are saying.

Thanks again.

oh it's SO difficult when it first happens, there's so much to take in. i found it difficult that i was grieving while all my family and friends were 'just glad i was okay' ie not dead. but i wasn't okay, you see... i was frightened and sad. tell your friend about the ept site and she'll get great support here as well, i'm so sorry that she's going through this.

They took the tube and(I think) ovary out when I had an ectopic about 10 yrs ago, but it was just keyhole surgery so only took a couple of days to get back to normal.

aitch, i was exactly the same. the docs kept throwing statistics at me and made it sound like every other pg i had (and there wouldnt be many) would be an ep. everyone was going on abouthow lucky i was, and what a "stroke of luck" that i sensed something was wrong, but i didnt, i just knew that i hadnt mc'd. JV, im sorry about your friend, she will need to take time to grieve. there was a ttc after an ep thread on here that i found v helpful.

Sorry to hear about your friend JV.I had an ectopic at 6.4wks.Mine was removed via a laparoscopy & I was lucky enough to keep my tube.

However,I was told by my infertiity consultant that any pregnancy I might concieve in the future was likely to be ectopic,.if I concieved at all..Thankfully I chose to ignore him & was pregnant with dd1 7 wks later & with dd2 by dd1's first birthday.

I can heartily reccomend the EPT website.They know what they are talking about & are lifesavers.I wish your friend all the best.

jv I did struggle to conceive but had ds2 in march07 after the EP in nov04. Was getting slightly obsessed but hopefuly your friend gets onto the EP trust as the lasses there are awesome