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IMPROVED DIAGNOSIS OF PREGNANCY‐RELATED GYNAECOLOGICAL EMERGENCIES BY RAPID HUMAN CHORIONIC GONADOTROPHIN BETA‐SUBUNIT ASSAY
Author(s) -
Seppälä M.,
Ranta T.,
Rutanen E.M.,
Stenman U.H.,
Tontti K.,
Chard T.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1981.tb00957.x
Subject(s) - andrology , medicine , pregnancy , beta (programming language) , obstetrics , gynecology , pregnancy test , biology , computer science , genetics , programming language
Summary A pregnancy‐related disorder was identified by a rapid radioimmunoassay of serum chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG‐RIA) in 122 out of 470 women (26 per cent) with lower abdominal pain or bleeding, while a routine pregnancy test in urine was positive in only 7 per cent of these cases. In 49 patients with ectopic pregnancy the rapid hCG‐RIA was positive in 90 per cent as compared with 13 per cent for the routine pregnancy test. In patients with evidence of intrauterine pregnancy (66 cases) the rapid hCG‐RIA was positive in 98 per cent and the routine pregnancy test in 38 per cent. The clinical sensitivity of the hCG‐RIA was 95 per cent, specificity 96 per cent and predictive value 89 per cent. The test can improve the efficiency of the routine diagnosis of early intra‐ and extrauterine pregnancy‐related disorders.