With an ectopic pregnancy the girl is pregnant, but the embryo has settled outside the womb, normally in one of the fallopian tubes.
The egg is fertilized in one of the fallopian tubes, the meeting place of egg and sperm cell. When this union has taken place they move to the womb, where the fertilized egg settles. But sometimes it doesn’t travel far enough and settles too early, getting stuck in the curved tube leading to the womb.
This is a very dangerous situation. If not discovered in time the tube may rupture, causing a life threatening situation. The girl can die within 30-60 minutes.
Between 1970 and 1990 the number of ectopic pregnancies has tripled, the cause still being unclear. Nowadays 1 in every 200 pregnancies is ectopic.

Symptoms