Brown had come to him because her fallopian tubes were blocked, preventing her from becoming pregnant.

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If the fallopian tube is significantly damaged, it might need to be removed.

CNN: Ectopic pregnancy

Other ways of "getting around" the guidelines, from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in the UK, include Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer (Gift).

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This time the surgeon got the appendix -- and a fallopian tube.

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Researchers examined semen samples provided by men aged between 18-70 whose partners were undergoing fertility treatment because of blocked or missing fallopian tubes.

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Other instruments can be inserted into the tube or through other small incisions to remove the ectopic tissue and repair the fallopian tube.

CNN: Ectopic pregnancy

As part of her treatment, Brown has had one of her ovaries, several lymph nodes and part of one of her fallopian tubes removed.

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If the ectopic pregnancy is causing heavy bleeding or the fallopian tube has ruptured, you might need emergency surgery through an abdominal incision (laparotomy).

CNN: Ectopic pregnancy

Eight days after the operation, hospital officials told the girl's parents that, in fact, the surgeon had removed not her appendix but one of her fallopian tubes.

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Then, sometime between 12 and 50 years after the two of you left your grandmother, you burst forth and were sucked by her fimbriae into the fallopian tube.

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This technique involves inserting unfertilised eggs, and sperm, into the fallopian tubes, and is not currently covered by guidance, so in theory any number of eggs could be used.

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In some cases, the fallopian tube can be repaired.

CNN: Ectopic pregnancy

When news of the second case became public, the hospital's chief executive, Dr. Vivian Wong Taam Chi-woon, insisted that the surgeon was right to remove the fallopian tube because it was seriously inflamed.

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The first organ that the system has been used to emulate is the uterus, because keyhole surgery is widely employed to deal with ectopic pregnancies (those where the fetus develops in the fallopian tubes leading into the womb, rather than in the womb itself).

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