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Ectopic location complicates as many as 2% of pregnancies. Improved diagnostic capability facilitates medical treatment with methotrexate, but such management is suitable for only a minority of ectopic pregnancies. Of all tissues, the placenta expresses the highest levels of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) — and the EGFR signaling pathway promotes survival and growth. Thus, investigators explored the effectiveness of gefitinib, an orally administered EGFR inhibitor, for treatment of ectopic pregnancy in a series of preclinical studies and a phase 1 single-arm, open-label study in women with ectopic pregnancies.
The investigators first demonstrated EGFR expression in placental tissue from five ectopic pregnancies. They then documented…