Introduction: Operative laparoscopy is the gold standard approach for treatment of tubal pregnancy. Although benefits of this approach are well established, data on its uptake trend in Malaysia is largely unknown. Objective: This study aims to determine the operative laparoscopy uptake in management of tubal pregnancy at a busy tertiary hospital and whether the benefits associated with laparoscopic surgery was achieved. Materials and Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted on all women admitted for tubal pregnancy at Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru, a public tertiary hospital over a period of 12 months. The on-call team was responsible for the surgical approach. Patient’s clinical presentation, operative laparoscopic uptake, factors affecting the choice of approach and duration of hospitalization were analyzed. Results: The tubal pregnancy rate was 7.6 per 1000 deliveries. Twenty- seven of the 138 cases (20%) had hypovolemic shock, requiring urgent laparotomy and were excluded from study. The operative laparoscopy rate for stable tubal pregnancy was only 42.3% (47 of 111 cases). Women managed laparoscopically were associated with a significantly higher pre-operative hemoglobin level, mostly nullipara and had surgery performed during office hours. They waited longer for their surgery but were discharged earlier compared to the laparotomy group. There was no difference in the duration of hospitalization. Conclusions: Less than half of all hemodynamically stable tubal pregnancies in our hospital had operative laparoscopy. The current laparoscopy uptake rate can be further improved.
Platinum based adjuvant chemotherapy is generally recommended for ovarian cancer to improve the survival rate. Intravenous route is commonly used, easily administered and less associated complications. However, intraperitoneal route is gaining its popularity as a single procedure or adjunctive to the intravenous route. Numerous questions on its eligibility and safety are still perplexed. A case review on a patient with non optimal debulking surgery of advanced ovarian cancer was studied. Intravenous platinum based chemotherapy combined with paclitaxel failed to bring her to clinical remission. Second line chemotherapy, gemcitabin rendered her to poor response with unresolved debilitating ascites needing recurrent drainage. Surprisingly, a trial of intraperitoneal chemotherapy with cisplatin revealed a great response with a complete clinical remission.