Retroperitoneal Ectopic Pregnancy

Abstract

A 35-year-old woman with a history of regular menstruation presented with a positive urine pregnancy test and elevated blood human chorionic gonadotropin concentrations. Color Doppler ultrasound showed multiple slightly hyperechoic areas within the uterine cavity. She was admitted to the hospital with a preliminary outpatient diagnosis of “suspected molar pregnancy, pending further evaluation.” After electrocution and curettage, no villous tissue was identified, and postoperative human chorionic gonadotropin concentrations failed to decline. Pelvic MRI showed a round, thick-walled cystic mass in the anterior sacral region (Figure 1). Color Doppler ultrasound showed that the cystic mass contained a yolk sac, fetal bud, and fetal cardiac activity (Figure 2). Surgical pathology subsequently confirmed the presence of villous tissue, consistent with a diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy.

Qingying Song: writing – original draft preparation (lead), writing – review and editing (lead). Dan Li: writing – original draft preparation (supporting), writing – review and editing (supporting).

The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Linyi Maternal and Child Health Hospital (QTL-YXLL-2023080).

Informed consent was waived because the patient’s information has been anonymized, which was approved by the ethics committee.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.