Expectant management of suspected ectopic pregnancies even with rising beta-subunit human chorionic gonadotropin levels. A clinical prospective study.

A prospective study was undertaken to evaluate possibility of expectant management of ectopic pregnancy in a selected group of patients with few symptoms, no gestational sac on sonography, and rising but low beta hCG levels. Using the above mentioned criteria, 26 patients were enrolled during prospective study period of 24 month. Five patients (19.2%) had a ruptured tubal pregnancy during the period of observation. Ten patients (38.5%) underwent laparoscopy with subsequent surgery for tubal pregnancy. The indication for laparoscopy in all 10 cases was abdominal pain. In all these 10 patients the pregnancy was unruptured. The remaining 11 patients (42.3%) escaped surgical intervention. Three had intrauterine pregnancies. In the remaining 8 patients the diagnosis remained presumed ectopic. The mean interval from admission of beta hCG level of < 5 mIU/ml in these 8 patients was 19.2 +/- 8.4 days. They were inpatients until the beta hCG level begun to decline. Thereafter, the patients were observed as outpatients. We conclude that in carefully selected cases of suspected ectopic pregnancies with rising but low beta hCG levels, expectant management is appropriate as long as the patient remains relatively asymptomatic.