UNASSIGNED: A cohort of 61 patients from a single center was retrospectively analyzed. Inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy and treatment with a single-dose injection of MTX. The need to perform surgery despite MTX was defined as treatment failure while needing a second MTX injection was not.
UNASSIGNED: In our cohort, MTX demonstrated a success rate of 80%. This rate rose to 84% when patients with human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG ) > 5,000 IU/L were excluded. Twenty percent underwent surgery for pain, increased mass size and/or suboptimal hCG kinetics. Low hCG levels on days 0, 4 and 7 as well as the absence of pain, metrorrhagia and hemoperitoneum were predictive of success. MTX was also efficient in the treatment of persisting pregnancies of unknown location (PUL).
UNASSIGNED: Our results are consistent with previous studies and emphasize the fact that MTX is less effective above a certain level of hCG. We obtained a cut-off value of 2439 IU/L with a sensitivity of 66.7% and a specificity of 93.9%. MTX should not be used when hCG is higher than 5,000 IU/L and laparoscopic surgery should be performed. Our results bring additional data about the efficacy of MTX in the management of persisting pregnancies of unknown location.