”HCG is a hormone produced by the placenta and is usually only present in a woman’s body when she is pregnant”

Emobileclinic Trending Topic: Serum Pregnancy Test

A pregnancy test is used to determine if a woman is pregnant. This is done by analysing a sample of a woman’s urine or blood for the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG ). HCG is a hormone produced by the placenta and is usually only present in a woman’s body when she is pregnant. Blood pregnancy tests can be either qualitative (result is negative or positive) or quantitative (result is a specific hCG concentration). Blood pregnancy tests are more sensitive than urinary tests

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They can distinguish between normally progressing and abnormal pregnancies (e.g. molar pregnancies, ectopic pregnancies), and enable a health professional to determine the length of time a woman has been pregnant. For such tests to be performed, blood must be collected by a health professional and analysed in a laboratory.

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a glycoprotein hormone produced by the developing placenta shortly after fertilization. In normal pregnancy, hCG can be detected in both urine and serum as early as 7 to 10 days after conception. The appearance of hCG in both the urine and serum soon after conception, and its subsequent rapid rise in concentration during early gestational growth, make it an excellent marker for the early detection of pregnancy

The Consult Diagnostics hCG Combo Test is a rapid chromatographic immunoassay for the qualitative detection of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in urine or serum to aid in the early detection of pregnancy. The test utilizes a combination of antibodies including mouse monoclonal anti-hCG antibodies and goat polyclonal anti-hCG antibodies to selectively detect elevated levels of hCG. The assay is conducted by adding urine or serum to the specimen well of the test cassette and observing the formation of colored lines. 

The test qualitatively detects the presence of hCG in urine specimen at the sensitivity of 20 mIU/mL for urine and 10 mIU/ml for serum.

Specimen Collection and Preparation

A urine specimen must be collected in a clean and dry container. A first morning urine specimen is preferred since it generally contains the highest concentration of hCG; however, this does not imply that urine specimens collected at any time of the day cannot be used. Blood should be collected aseptically into a clean tube without anticoagulants. Seperate the serum from the blood as soon as possible to avoid hemolysis.