Human chorionic gonadotropin, better known as hCG, is a hormone that begins to be produced in a woman’s body immediately after pregnancy has occurred. As soon as the ovum is attached to the uterine wall, hCG controls every process of its development and growth. This occurs on the sixth-eighth day after fertilization. But can HCG be wrong? We will try to understand this and understand what is happening and how.
The most accurate method
Many potential mothers worry about whether the analysis for hCG can be wrong? Doctors say with confidence: yes, a mistake, in general, can occur, but the accuracy of this method, as a rule, is 99 percent. It is even higher than the accuracy of the various pregnancy tests that women choose.
A hCG blood test is the most accurate way to determine early pregnancy. It is reasonable to carry out it just a few days after implantation of the embryo in the uterine wall. It is known that hCG begins its production in the female body only when a fertilized egg has already “stuck” to one of the walls of the uterus.
Hormone of "Interesting Position"
Based on the foregoing, it follows that the described hormone can be called the hormone of pregnancy. If a woman still only suspects that she might become pregnant, there is absolutely no need to wait until there is a delay in menstruation in order to conduct the necessary test in this situation. She will just donate blood for hCG, and by their results she will already understand whether she is waiting for a stork or not yet. This is a paid analysis. And blood is donated either in the antenatal clinic, or in any of the private clinics located nearby the potential mom’s place of residence.
Can HCG blood be wrong? Indeed, not all women trust the reliability of its result. But its accuracy is quite high (this was already mentioned a little higher). Of course, an absolute guarantee of the reliability of the result is impossible, performing any analysis. Do not forget that the human factor is present. Can a laboratory make a mistake in hCG? Yes, quite rarely there are cases when laboratory assistants make a mistake, but they cannot be ignored.
Error or not
When an analysis is performed, it is very important not only to do it correctly, but also to decipher the result. Some of the doctors who perform such a study can say about the onset of pregnancy, just seeing that the level of chorionic gonadotropin in the blood of a woman is markedly increased. But in reality, this approach is not particularly true. To talk about the onset of pregnancy and that it develops normally, it is better to conduct a couple of tests. In time, the interval between them is equal to at least one week.
If a woman is really expecting a baby, then with each passing week, the concentration of hCG in her blood will begin to grow and increase two to three times. If gonadotropin remains unchanged, this may be evidence that the pregnancy is ectopic or it froze, unfortunately.
Chorionic gonadotropin and Down syndrome
To determine the risk of having a baby with Down syndrome, several examinations are necessary in this situation. These will be screenings of the first and second trimester of pregnancy.
In the first trimester (this is a period of eleven to thirteen weeks and six days), in addition to the rest of the analyzes, the level of hCG in the blood of the future mother should be measured. If the level of hCG is increased, the baby may increase the risk of Down syndrome.
What is this analysis at all?
In order to correctly answer the question - can the analysis for hCG be wrong, you must first understand the principle of such an analysis.
At its core, this is a routine blood test for hormones that most women donate many times in their lives. Human chorionic gonadotropin is produced in the chorion (the so-called external germinal membrane) after the embryo has attached to the uterine wall.
When a woman is in her usual state, that is, she has no pregnancy, the level of the described hormone in her blood is about 5 mU / ml. Incidentally, the same amount is produced even in men as a result of the pituitary gland (this is a special part of the brain).
But when pregnancy occurs, the level of hCG in the woman’s blood begins to grow. At first, this happens exponentially, and then almost as quickly and decreases. In the second half of pregnancy, he remains almost at the same, almost unchanged level.
Can HCG be wrong, an important issue for women. Here, by the level of this hormone, the analysis will be able to determine whether a pregnancy exists or not, whether there are any kind of fetal pathology or not. It is from the analysis of hCG that they determine how pregnancy develops.
By the way, it is to this hormone that women owe the correct course of the entire pregnancy, because it directly affects how the expectant mother will live for the next nine months. Due to the fact that the level of hCG hormone rises, menstruation "freezes" and there is a significant increase in the production of hormones, which are so needed to maintain every pregnancy.
The hCG hormone has alpha and beta subunits. The alpha subunit is similar to other human hormones; But the beta subunit is unique in its own way: here it is a marker of the presence or absence of pregnancy.
How hCG normally grows
Before you understand if hCG might be mistaken for pregnancy, you should understand that if pregnancy develops absolutely correctly, as it should be, then the level of gonadotropin will constantly “grow” until the tenth to twelfth week. Then it begins to decline. This has already been mentioned a little higher.
Changes in hormone levels in every expectant mother occur in completely different ways, so you should not rely on any established norms for his growth. Nevertheless, in most cases, the gonadotropin level doubles on average every one to three days by the fourth week, and later every three and a half days by the ninth week. It is considered completely normal that hCG falls after the tenth to twelfth week.
If there is no increase or decrease in the level of hCG, a woman should immediately contact her gynecologist, because this may be evidence of a miscarriage or that the pregnancy has stopped.
If the opposite reaction is observed, that is, the level rises rather quickly, then it is also worth going to the gynecologist's appointment, because this is the only way to eliminate some complications, for example, cystic drift.
Medicines that affect the level of hCG in the blood
Many women care, but can HCG be wrong before the delay? Especially if they were taking certain medications. Here you need to know one more thing: only those drugs in which this hormone is present change the level of hCG in the blood (Horagon, Rotten). Such drugs are usually used by women who are treated for infertility when it is necessary to stimulate ovulation. If one of these drugs was taken or a woman took a certain course in order to stimulate ovulation, it is necessary to notify laboratory assistants in the laboratory where she will be tested.
Can a hCG blood test be wrong? It should be understood that no other medicine is able to distort (that is, increase or decrease) the results of a blood test for hCG. Birth control pills also have absolutely no effect on the results obtained after taking a blood test for hCG and on the results of a pregnancy test.
Strange swings
Can HCG be wrong? Most likely, the person conducting the analysis can make a mistake. In this situation, it is not necessary to exclude the human factor. The possibility of error is quite small. Quite rarely, there are situations when a laboratory worker mixes up two samples of biological material or misinterprets the results of the analysis.
If the blood stops increasing the concentration of gonadotropin, this may be evidence of the threat of spontaneous abortion.
And can HCG be wrong early on? A woman should understand that a false negative result is possible if she goes to the laboratory too early to get tested. Doctors suggest donating blood at least a week or even ten days after the date of the alleged conception. And to increase the accuracy of the analysis, she gives up on an empty stomach in the morning.
If a woman is too worried about whether HCG can be mistaken in the early stages, she may not need to do such an analysis, but just purchase a test in a pharmacy. This strip should be dipped in urine for a few seconds, and then, after only twenty seconds, evaluate the result. If there is an increased concentration of hCG in the urine, the test will show two notorious stripes.
It is more accurate to establish whether a pregnancy has occurred or not, only a doctor can, after conducting a medical examination. A woman should not run to the laboratory to do various tests and diagnose herself. The doctor will direct the patient to research, if necessary.
But can HCG be wrong early on? Yes it can happen. Sometimes it happens that the result of the analysis is negative, and the woman has some kind of anxiety. In this case, she may donate blood again after waiting for one or two weeks. In this way all suspicions will be removed. If a woman was not mistaken and she really expects a baby, then in these two weeks the concentration in the blood of the hormone will have time to increase.
Pregnant or not
Can HCG be wrong for a week in advance is also possible, although not necessarily. This was mentioned a little higher. You need to know that in the case of an increase in the concentration of hCG in the blood of a woman, this does not necessarily mean that she will become a mother in the near future. This may indicate that tumors develop in her body - benign or malignant. Because of this, the level of hCG sometimes increases in men.
By the way, women have an increase in the concentration of gonadotropin if they are currently using hormonal pills (in this case, the analysis will not be sufficiently informative) or they have had an abortion not so long ago.
Now consider the ordinary situation. In men and women who are not pregnant, the concentration of hCG usually does not exceed 2.5-5 mU / ml. But after a whole week has passed after the implantation of the embryo into the uterine wall, the indicator is already about 100-350 mU / ml. Until about the twentieth week of the “interesting position”, the concentration of gonadotropin in the woman’s blood will increase, and then gradually decrease.
Can HCG be wrong? The accuracy of this analysis is quite high and the likelihood of errors after a misinterpretation of the result or its incorrect conduct is minimal.
What about IVF?
Even thirty or forty years ago, the so-called "test tube kids" seemed to many some kind of fantastic creatures. But today on the planet there are several million people who exist precisely thanks to IVF. When using this method, fertilization itself occurs outside the female body, as it would be with a standard, natural conception, and in the external environment, that is, outside it.
This is perhaps the last chance for families who have severe forms of infertility and even with great desire they are not able to become parents in the usual way. If earlier the spouses had to put up with this pain or take the baby from the orphanage, now the loving couple has a real opportunity to give birth and raise their own, namely their baby.
Of course, the IVF procedure cannot give a 100% guarantee of the expected pregnancy, but it is a real chance for a happy ending.
Women who cannot get pregnant in the usual way and need to resort to in vitro fertilization often worry if HCG can be wrong after IVF. Indeed, in this case, everything happens not quite habitually, not as usual. Therefore, the potential mummies are tormented by the question: did everything go smoothly, did everything work out as desired?
Every one and a half to three days, gonadotropin levels will increase after in vitro fertilization. To determine its norm, doctors use both standard, ordinary tables and special ones, taking into account the age of the small embryo and the day on which it was planted.
The first time a test for gonadotropin level is carried out, as a rule, on the fourteenth day after fertilization. If the value is 100 mU / ml, then everything went well and pregnancy has come. If this indicator is below 25 mU / ml, this will be a hint that conception, unfortunately, did not happen.
What can be said in conclusion? Trying to answer the question about a possible blood test error, we found that there are many factors that affect the reliability of a laboratory test. It all starts with the woman's proper preparation for the moment of collecting the necessary material and ends with the potential of the laboratory that is selected, the level of qualification of the doctor and laboratory assistant. The patient’s anamnesis also plays an important role: that is, has she recently had a miscarriage, when a woman has ovulated, does she take any medications and the like. It is necessary to consult a doctor who will correctly interpret the result of the analysis; if necessary, do it again; pass additional studies if necessary.