title: [Value of serum progesterone for ectopic pregnancy in therapeutic effect monitoring].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the value of serum progesterone in selecting the candidate patients with ectopic pregnancy (EP) for methotrexate (MTX) treatment and in monitoring the effect of the treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-seven EP patients who were given single-dose intramuscular injection with 50 mg/m2 MTX were divided into success and failure groups according to the effect of the treatment. The serum progesterone concentrations in these patients were measured and compared between the 2 groups, and the receiver-operator curves (ROC) were used to determine the critical serum progesterone levels for assessing the effect of MTX treatment. The time consumed respectively by serum progesterone and beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin (beta-hCG) decreasing to below normal level was also compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The serum progesterone concentrations of the success group (7.93+/-2.02 ng/ml) were significantly lower than those of the failure group (14.53+/-1.72 ng/ml, P<0.05). The recommended critical level for assessing the effect of MTX treatment for EP patients was 11 ng/ml according to the ROC, and the time for serum progesterone decreasing to below normal level was significantly less than that for beta-hCG.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum progesterone can be used as an index for selecting candidate EP patients for MTX treatment, and also as a good indicator for assessing the therapeutic effect after treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Jiang-tao
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Feng-yi
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Long
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006062:Gonadotropins / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000097:blood*; D011271:Pregnancy, Ectopic / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy; D011374:Progesterone / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D006062:Gonadotropins; D011374:Progesterone; D008727:Methotrexate