Six cases of tubal stump pregnancy: complication of assisted reproductive technology?

Objective: To present six cases of tubal stump pregnancy and discuss possible etiologies.

Design: Case series.

Setting: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at a tertiary referring medical center.

Patient(s): Six women with tubal stump pregnancy diagnosed and treated in the department from 2004 to 2010 according to electronic files and histological reports.

Intervention(s): None.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Assisted reproductive technology (ART) before tubal stump pregnancies.

Result(s): From 2004 to 2010, this study diagnosed six tubal stump pregnancies among 1,466 ectopic pregnancies, an incidence of 0.4%. Of the six cases, two conceived spontaneously after ovulation induction. Four of them conceived after IVF-ET programs.

Conclusion(s): Tubal stump pregnancies may be one of the complications of ART. In view of the risk of early rupture in a tubal stump pregnancy, early diagnosis is warranted to avoid maternal morbidity.