Patient's question:
Last month I found out that I was pregnant. Recently I've been feeling a bit of pain in my stomach, but it hasn't ruptured. I went to the hospital for a thorough check-up. My progesterone level is a bit low. The doctor said it might be an ectopic pregnancy. I want to know what progesterone level is associated with ectopic pregnancy?Doctor's answer:
Early diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy mainly relies on blood HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) testing. Since HCG is a special hormone excreted during pregnancy, the β-HCG subunit can be used to help diagnose unruptured early ectopic pregnancy. The normal development and growth of trophoblasts result in the excretion of HCG at normal levels. The trophoblast titer rises rapidly daily, with an increase of more than 66% in HCG content among every 48 trophoblasts. In other words, if the β-HCG level increases by 66% every two days, it can be diagnosed as intrauterine early pregnancy. If the increase is less than 66%, it is more likely to be ectopic pregnancy or poor intrauterine early pregnancy development.