Shafi Sheikh Muzamil, Malla Misbha Afsheen, Salaam Parvaiz Ahmed, Kirmani Omer Shareef
Postgraduate Department of Surgery, SMHS Hospital, Srinagar, India.
J Emerg Trauma Shock. 2009 Sep;2(3):196-8. doi: 10.4103/0974-2700.55342.
The coexistence of intrauterine and extrauterine pregnancy, the heterotopic pregnancy, is a rare obstetric phenomenon. The preoperative diagnosis of this condition is very difficult; leading to a higher maternal morbidity and fetal loss. We experienced a case of intrauterine pregnancy and ruptured abdominal pregnancy implanted on the illeocaecal region in a 26-year-old primiparous woman. She was clinically misdiagnosed as a case of ruptured ectopic pregnancy, but ultrasonography showed it to be a case of heterotopic pregnancy. Subsequently, the patient was subjected to laparotomy and the ruptured abdominal pregnancy was evacuated. She continued with the intrauterine pregnancy till term and delivered a healthy female baby. Although this condition is unusual, any general surgeon in the emergency department must be aware of this complication and its management, which is often initially misdiagnosed.