Laparoscopic salpingectomy for ectopic pregnancy.

In selective cases operative laparoscopic salpingectomy is an alternative to laparotomy in the surgical treatment of ectopic pregnancy. The obvious advantages of this procedure are decreased morbidity and surgical pain, lower cost, shorter hospitalization and convalescence, and less disability, as well as a cosmetic surgical scar. Because the procedure is so cost-effective, and since the tools are familiar to most gynecologists, we hope it will gain wider utilization. Laparoscopic salpingectomy is not a difficult procedure when the basic principles of surgery are followed. Depending on the fertility desires of the patient and the condition of the opposite tube, this procedure may be preferable to laparotomy. If a complication such as bleeding does occur and fails to respond to cauterization, laparotomy can be done as usual for an ectopic pregnancy.