ectopic pregnancy (redirected from ectopic gestation)

ectopic pregnancy

 or extrauterine pregnancy

Condition in which a fertilized egg is imbedded outside the uterus (see fertilization). Early on, it may resemble a normal pregnancy, with hormonal changes, amenorrhea, and development of a placenta. Later, most patients have pain as the growing embryo stretches the structure it is attached to. Rupture may cause life-threatening bleeding. A tubal pregnancy may result from obstruction of the egg's passage through the fallopian tube. In an ovarian pregnancy, the egg is fertilized before it leaves the ovary. Implantation elsewhere in the abdomen is an abdominal pregnancy.

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ectopic pregnancy [ek¦täp·ik ′preg·nən·sē]

(medicine)

Embryonic development outside the uterus, usually within the Fallopian tube.