Microculdoscopy: A New Procedure Used at Grady Memorial Hospital To
Detect Ectopic Pregnancies
ATLANTA -- Emory University School of Medicine physicians working at
Grady Memorial Hospital are among the first in the country to use a
technique called microculdoscopy to diagnose ectopic pregnancies. More
than 100 patients a year at Grady have ectopic pregnancies, which pose
a disproportionate risk to the lives of African-American women.
Microculdoscopy involves
inserting a small camera into the vagina and then behind the uterus
into a space known as the cul de sac between the uterus and rectum
to allow direct visualization of the fallopian tubes and ovaries. The
procedure is normally used to evaluate infertility and chronic pelvic
pain, but is being applied at Grady to visualize and diagnose ectopic
pregnancies, a life-threatening condition in which a fertilized egg
begins to develop into a fetus outside the uterus, often in a fallopian
tube.
In a recent study, Michael
A. McCall, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Emory,
and director of Grady’s Gynecologic Ambulatory Surgery, and Kimberly
Kleiss, MD, a fourth-year obstetrics and gynecology resident at Emory,
used microculdoscopy with hydroflotation to evaluate 10 women with suspected
ectopic pregnancy, while 10 more women with a possible ectopic pregnancy
served as the control group and were managed with surgery, or methotrexate,
a chemotherapy drug.
Dr. Kleiss presented the
study’s findings at the annual meeting of District IV of the American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) in October 2001, where
it received first-place honors for Junior Fellow Presentation. She also
plans to present at the national ACOG meeting in April 2003.
According to Dr. McCall,
Grady is one of the top two or three hospitals in terms of numbers of
patients with ectopic pregnancies. The ectopic rate at Grady is 2 _
times greater than other hospitals nationwide. Grady’s patient population
with ectopic pregnancies accounts for 5 percent of all pregnancies,
while other hospitals rank at about 2 percent.
Prior to using microculdoscopy,
patients suspected of having ectopic pregnancy had been routinely followed
with pregnancy tests (beta-HCG levels) and ultrasound examinations.
The addition of microculdoscopy allows physicians to confirm whether
an ectopic pregnancy is present by direct visualization of the fallopian
tubes with a camera and video monitor.
"The problem with ectopic
pregnancies is they happen early in pregnancy, and sometimes it’s before
you can see a pregnancy on the ultrasound of the uterus, giving us no
indication of what’s going on," Dr. McCall said. "The patient could
have a miscarriage, a pregnancy that’s completely normal in the uterus
but it’s not far enough developed to see yet, or she could have a pregnancy
that’s in the fallopian tube. What we’re hoping to do with this is manage
the pregnancy better."
Microculdoscopy uses a 2.7
mm endoscope to provide a definitive view of an ectopic pregnancy in
the fallopian tubes, which usually float behind the uterus. Gynecologists
can then determine if the pregnancy is inside the uterus, or if there
is swelling in one of the tubes, indicating an ectopic pregnancy.
An ectopic pregnancy is one
that occurs outside of the uterus, and is usually detected within the
first four to six weeks of pregnancy. The risk factors include previous
tubal infections and scarring, mostly from sexually transmitted infections
like gonorrhea and chlamydia. The best-known forms of treatment remain
the drug methotrexate or surgery to remove the ectopic pregnancy. Approximately
60 percent of women with ectopic pregnancies are able to conceive again;
the other 40 percent are left infertile.
According to the fourth edition
of Comprehensive Gynecology by William Droegemueller, MD and
co-authors, ectopic pregnancy is the most common cause of maternal death
in the first trimester of pregnancy, with blood loss being the major
cause of death. The majority of ectopic pregnancies affect women ages
25 to 34. Overall, risk of death from ectopic pregnancy is about 10
times greater than the risk of death from childbirth. The mortality
rate is similar in all age groups, but is four times higher in blacks
and other nonwhites than in white women. A pregnant black woman, for
example, is about five times more likely to die of ectopic pregnancy
than a white woman.
Ectopic pregnancy is also
the most common single cause of all maternal deaths among black women,
causing about one-fifth of such deaths.
At Grady Hospital, the microculdoscopy
procedure is done on an outpatient basis, using lidocaine, an anesthetic,
to numb the pain and conscious sedation to make the patient more comfortable.
Some patients are taken immediately to surgery if it is discovered they
are bleeding internally.
Dr. Kleiss said that so far,
the microculdoscopy procedure has been helpful and there have been no
complications from the procedure.
"We don’t have enough patients
to say that it makes a true difference, but from a case-to-case basis,
it helps some of the patients that we use it on," she said. "This procedure
is really useful for patient populations that have a high ectopic rate.
We think it helps prevent some patients from having to get surgery.
It also gives the patient a more definitive answer earlier than we could
do before."
Dr. McCall added that microculdoscopy
is especially helpful in the cases where doctors are searching for answers
regarding a woman’s early pregnancy.
"It’s shown to be helpful
in deciding if the patient has an early ectopic pregnancy, an early
normal pregnancy, or a miscarriage," he said. |