Patient's question:
A woman is 31 years old this year and has no symptoms, just that her menstrual period has been delayed for some days and has not arrived yet, so she doesn't know if she is pregnant. I would like to know how many days of pregnancy can be detected with a test result.Doctor's answer:
HCG is a hormone produced by the trophoblast cells of the placenta, which is crucial for maintaining the early pregnancy embryo's growth and development. Its levels in the blood can essentially reflect the growth and development of the trophoblast cells. Therefore, in the early stages of pregnancy, we can indirectly monitor the growth and development of the embryo by observing blood HCG levels, allowing for the arrangement of appropriate pregnancy preservation plans and the assessment of their effectiveness. On the eighth day of delivery, trophoblast cells have already begun to produce trace amounts of HCG. Blood and urine HCG tests can show weakly positive results. Subsequently, as trophoblast cells grow rapidly, HCG levels also decline quickly, doubling approximately every 1.3 days. By the 10-12th week of pregnancy, HCG levels surpass their peak, and after the 12th week, they begin to gradually rise and remain stable until full term. Around one week postpartum, HCG levels turn negative.