Intrahepatic Pregnancy

THE INCIDENCE of ectopic pregnancy ranges from one in 84 to one in 357 live births.¹The most common site of implantation is within the fallopian tubes; abdominal pregnancies are unusual, and primary hepatic pregnancies are extremely rare. A computer search revealed only six cases²⁻⁷of placental attachment to the liver in the English-language literature since Cornell and Lash⁸reported eight cases in 1933. The presence of a fetus has been described in only two of these cases⁶,⁷; either chorionic villi or trophoblasts have been documented in the remaining reports. While preoperative angiography was described in one case,³newer imaging techniques such as ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT), and imaging with magnetic resonance (MR) have not been used in the diagnosis and evaluation of hepatic pregnancy. These techniques have a greater ability to define tissue planes, thus allowing more accurate diagnosis and preoperative planning by the