title: The value of curettage in the diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy.
abstract: The charts of all patients hospitalized between 1978 and 1983 with proved ectopic pregnancies at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, and Meir Hospital, Kfar-Sava, Israel, were reviewed. Eighty-four patients with ectopic pregnancies had endometrial tissue available for histologic analyses. Review of the endometrial curettings revealed that the most common endometrium associated with ectopic pregnancy was secretory (39.4%). Proliferative endometrium present 19% of the time was as common a finding as Arias-Stella phenomenon. This study shows that any type of endometrium lacking trophoblasts may be associated with an ectopic pregnancy. The lack of decidual reaction or Arias-Stella phenomenon should not alone lower the clinician's index of suspicion.
mesh_terms: D004107:Dilatation and Curettage; D004717:Endometrium / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011271:Pregnancy, Ectopic / Q000473:pathology*