The role of early post-implantation beta-HCG levels in the outcome of pregnancies following in-vitro fertilization.
Daily plasma beta-HCG levels from days 11 to 18 after ovum retrieval (OR) were evaluated in a group of 73 women who became pregnant following in-vitro fertilization and embryo replacement (IVF-ER). The 47 patients who had a normal ongoing pregnancy could be distinguished from the 26 patients with a pathological pregnancy (pre-clinical abortion, clinical abortion and tubal pregnancy) by the mean daily beta-HCG levels, their mean daily increase and the intercept and slope of the beta-HCG regression analysis. The mean daily beta-HCG levels of the normal pregnancies were significantly higher than: (i) pre-clinical abortions on days 12-18 after OR; (ii) clinical abortions on days 12-16; and (iii) tubal pregnancies on days 12-17. Using quadratic discriminant analysis, normal and pathological pregnancies could also be distinguished by their absolute beta-HCG levels on day 13 after OR with 27.6 mIU/ml being the cut-off point. Our results indicate that the outcome of pregnancy following IVF-ER could be predicted with a high degree of probability by monitoring daily beta-HCG levels within the first 2 weeks following OR.
Dor
J
J
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sheba Medical Centre, Tel-Aviv University Medical School, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.
Rudak
E
E
Rotmench
S
S
Levran
D
D
Blankstein
J
J
Lusky
A
A
Nebel
L
L
Serr
D M
DM
Mashiach
S
S
D000328:Adult; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology*; D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000097:blood / Q000145:classification / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human; D010446:Peptide Fragments