Clinical Chemistry
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Clinical Chemistry 33: 1908-1910, 1987;
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Clinical Chemistry, Vol 33, 1908-1910, Copyright © 1987 by American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Role of qualitative choriogonadotropin assays in diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy

A LeMaistre, A Bracey, A Katz and AH Wu
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Medical School, Houston 77030.

We compared the clinical sensitivity and cost-effectiveness of a qualitative assay for choriogonadotropin in human urine ("Icon" hCG) with a quantitative assay of serum from 142 women with pathologically- diagnosed ectopic pregnancy. Results show that although the qualitative assay had a clinical sensitivity for pregnancy of 98.6%, as compared to 100% for the quantitative assay, it was more economical to use, and had a significantly shorter turnaround time. We conclude that qualitative hCG assay of either urine or serum is a good screening method for detecting pregnancy, and can replace the stat quantitative assay in women with suspected ectopic pregnancy. We present a diagnostic algorithm to illustrate the role of qualitative and quantitative hCG assays in conjunction with ultrasonography, culdocentesis, and laparoscopy for diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy.




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Copyright © 1987 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.