Early scans compulsory?

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1

Hi,

I had an ectopic 11 years ago, failed methotrexate and had surgery to remove the pregnancy and resulted in loss of a tube.

2 years ago I am lucky enough we had a completely normal happy healthy pregnancy, at which I had a scan at 6 and 8 weeks.

I’m now pregnant again and rang the doctors asking if they would refer me to the early unit for a scan and they said not needed unless I’m bleeding or in pain? Is that right?

Any help/advice welcome!

And if it makes any difference I’m in Northern Ireland

:blush:

2

Hey,

So nice to hear you conceived and had a healthy pregnancy after your ectopic. The EPU you can self refer. So you just need to call them directly and say you had a past ectopic and are self referring. They will see women who have had a past ectopic or recurrent miscarriages. Good luck, hope this pregnancy goes well.

3

Dear Beccaa,

Whispered congratulations on your pregnancy,

Any subsequent pregnancies following an ectopic pregnancy should be reviewed by a 6 week scan.

This is the information copied from NICE guidance (link also provided), which I believe they should be following in Northern Ireland. I would go back to them and ask for a scan per NICE guidance and if they refuse, ask to speak to the hit manager to explain why they are going against evidence based practice.

"Advise the woman that she should inform her GP as soon as possible about any future pregnancy so that an ultrasound scan can be arranged at 6–7 weeks to establish the location and viability of the pregnancy.

Inform women who have had an ectopic pregnancy that they can self-refer to an early pregnancy assessment service in future pregnancies if they have any early concerns"

https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/ectopic- … pregnancy/

I hope this helps,

Sending much love and positive thoughts,

Karen x

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