Comparison of Systemic and Transvaginal Local Methotrexate Treatment in Unruptured Ectopic Pregnancy.

Park, Jin Wan; Choi, Yong Wook; Hur, Eui Jong

Original Article

Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2002;45(1):122-125.
Published online January 1, 2002.

Comparison of Systemic and Transvaginal Local Methotrexate Treatment in Unruptured Ectopic Pregnancy.

Jin Wan Park, Yong Wook Choi, Eui Jong Hur

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, Dan Kook University, Cheonan, Korea.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of treating of unruptured ectopic pregnancy by systemic and transvaginal local administration of methotrexate. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 32 patients who were treated with methotrexate from June 1995 to October 1999. Among the patients, 14 were treated by ultrasound-guided transvaginal local injection and 18 were treated by systemic intramuscular administration. Success rate of the treatment was examined for each group, and the cases of methotrexate failure were characterized and compared with the success group. RESULTS: The success rate was similar between the transvaginal (85.7%) and the systemic (77.8%) groups. There were no differences in initial serum hCG levels, size of gestational sac, fetal cardiac activity between the success group and failure group. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that there is no difference in efficacy between systemic and transvaginal local methotrexate administration, and there are no useful parameters in identifying the risk for the failure of methotrexate treatment.

Key Words: Ectopic pregnancy, Methotrexate, Transvaginal sonography