chronic
Last reviewed 09/2023
Unruptured ectopic pregnancies are extremely variable in their presentation:
- most patients are afebrile
- abdominal pain is moderate, intermittent and usually unilateral
- 90% have abdominal tenderness
- pain on defaecation (due to blood in the pouch of Douglas)
- positive rebound tenderness is uncommon
- pelvic examination reveals a palpable adnexal mass in 50% of cases, in half of which, it occurs contralateral to the ectopic pregnancy, representing the corpus luteum
- the uterus is usually soft and of normal size or only moderately enlarged