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.
Cite this paper
Oppong, A. A. , Agbemenyah, H. Y. , Afeke, I. , Jamfaru, I. , Attachie, I. and Orish, V. N. (2016). Ectopic Pregnancy in a Referral Hospital in the Volta Region of Ghana West Africa. Open Access Library Journal, 3, e2983. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1102983.
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