abdominal pregnancy

Definition

A rare type extrauterine pregnancy that develops in the abdominal cavity or in the outer intestinal wall often due to a defect in the fallopian tube or uterus. An ectopic pregnancy of this type may be diagnosed by ultrasound or X-ray films. It very rarely proceeds to term (perinatal death of the fetus occurs in +/- 90% of cases) and there are risks of fatal bleeding by the mother (maternal deaths occur in +/- 6% of cases). A study entitled Cocaine use as a risk factor for abdominal pregnancy (J Natl Med Assoc 1998 May; 90(5):277-283) claims that out of ' 55 cases of abdominal pregnancy maternal cocaine use correlated with a 20% rate of increase in the incidence of abdominal pregnancy compared with the 70% rate of decrease in the before cocaine time period '.
Synonyms: extrauterine pregnancy, extrauterine gestation.