title: Elevated second-trimester maternal serum hCG in patients undergoing haemodialysis.
abstract: Prenatal Down syndrome screening with maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) has become common. High levels of maternal serum hCG and low levels of AFP have been associated with an increased risk of fetal Down syndrome. In this paper, we report five pregnancies in patients undergoing long-term haemodialysis, all of whom had false-positive second-trimester Down syndrome screening results. All of our five patients had extremely high levels of maternal serum hCG, but normal AFP values for their gestational age, and all had serious complications during pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou Medical Center, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Y K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Soong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000097:blood*; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins