title: False-positive urine beta-HCG in a woman with a tubo-ovarian abscess.
abstract: Modern urine beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) assays that use enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technology are sensitive and specific for diagnosing pregnancy, both intrauterine and ectopic, and have become indispensable to the practice of Emergency Medicine. A urine HCG test is often relied on by the Emergency Physician as a critical component in the diagnostic regimen of a patient with a possible ectopic pregnancy. We report a case of a false-positive urine beta-HCG test in a patient with a ruptured tubo-ovarian abscess. Though false-positive pregnancy tests with tubo-ovarian abscesses have previously been reported with older methods of HCG detection, we believe that this is the first case where the pregnancy test was the modern ELISA type. The mechanism for the false-positive reaction in this case is unknown, but time may show that the ELISA test kit, like its predecessors, may occasionally give a false-positive reaction in this class of patients.
authors.affiliation: Madigan Army Medical Center, University of Washington Affiliated Residency in Emergency Medicine, Tacoma, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Levsky
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Handler
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Suarez
authors.forename: E T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Esrig
mesh_terms: D000038:Abscess / Q000652:urine*; D000291:Adnexal Diseases / Q000652:urine*; D000328:Adult; D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human / Q000652:urine*; D005187:Fallopian Tubes; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010049:Ovarian Diseases / Q000652:urine*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012422:Rupture, Spontaneous
chemical_list: D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human