What Is The Outlook After Ectopic Pregnancy?

If an ectopic pregnancy is caught and treated at an early stage, the results are encouraging.

• If the fallopian tube has not ruptured and is saved, the chance for a future normal pregnancy is 50 percent, with a 15-percent chance of a repeat tubal pregnancy.

• After a second ectopic pregnancy, the risk for a third ectopic pregnancy goes up to 40 percent.

For these reasons, any woman who conceives after a tubal pregnancy should go to her gynecologist immediately to exclude the possibility of another tubal pregnancy.

If an ectopic pregnancy ruptured or the entire fallopian tube was removed, results are slightly less encouraging. If a second ectopic pregnancy occurs, the second tube may need to be removed, resulting in infertility (inability to conceive).

Women who do not have fallopian tubes cannot conceive naturally. In these women, in-vitro fertilization is the only treatment that can restore fertility. With this technique, eggs are fertilized outside the body and then placed directly into the womb, bypassing the fallopian tubes altogether.