Tubal pregnancy: significance of serum and peritoneal fluid alpha-amylase.

Thirty women with a histopathologically confirmed tubal ectopic pregnancy and 50 women with an intrauterine pregnancy of 12 weeks or less were studied. Serum alpha-amylase was found to be lower in women with a tubal pregnancy than in those with a normal pregnancy. Peritoneal fluid obtained by culdocentesis from women with a tubal pregnancy contained alpha-amylase concentrations that were consistently higher than the corresponding serum alpha-amylase concentrations, but not to a degree that it could be used as a reliable screening test.