Abdominal Pregnancy - Diagnosis

Diagnosis

A patient with an abdominal pregnancy may just display the normal signs of pregnancy or have non-specific symptoms such as abdominal pain, vaginal bleeding, and/or gastrointestinal symptoms. Frequently the diagnosis of an abdominal pregnancy is missed. However, it is a dangerous condition as it can bleed intraperitoneally resulting in a medical emergency with hemorrhagic shock and can be fatal; other causes of maternal death in patients with an abdominal pregnancy include toxemia, anemia, pulmonary embolus, coagulopathy, and infection.

Suspicion of an abdominal pregnancy is raised when the baby‘s parts can be easily felt, or the lie is abnormal. Sonography is extremely helpful in the diagnosis as it can demonstrate that the pregnancy is outside an empty uterus, there is no amniotic fluid between the placenta and the fetus, no uterine wall surrounding the fetus, fetal parts are close to the abdominal wall, and the fetus is in abnormal lie. MRI has also been used with success to diagnose abdominal pregnancy. Elevated alpha-fetoprotein levels are another clue of the presence of an abdominal pregnancy.