Rapid measurement of urinary pregnanediol glucuronide to diagnose ectopic pregnancy.

Abstract

We investigated the ability of a single, random, urinary pregnanediol-3 alpha-glucuronide level to differentiate early intrauterine from ectopic pregnancy. Thirty-four patients with intrauterine gestations were compared with 60 patients with ectopic pregnancies. Urinary pregnanediol-3 alpha-glucuronide was measured by radioimmunoassay and enzyme immunoassay. Compared with intrauterine gestations, results demonstrate that urinary pregnanediol-3 alpha-glucuronide is significantly depressed in ectopic pregnancies: 24.5 +/- 2.2 versus 4.8 +/- 0.7 micrograms/ml (p = 0.0001). Urinary pregnanediol-3 alpha-glucuronide levels obtained by conventional radioimmunoassay correlated closely with values measured in minutes with enzyme immunoassay (r = 0.95, p = 0.0001), and with serum progesterone (r = 0.74, p = 0.0001). Urinary pregnanediol-3 alpha-glucuronide measured by enzyme immunoassay exhibited predictive values for detecting ectopic gestations comparable with random serum progesterone or serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin values. We conclude that ectopic gestations demonstrate a reduced level of urinary pregnanediol-3 alpha-glucuronide (55/60 cases) detectable with a rapid enzyme immunoassay, which makes this assay a practical screening test in early pregnancy.

• Authors: M V Sauer, M Vermesh, R E Anderson, A G Vijod, F Z Stanczyk, R A Lobo
• Journal: American journal of obstetrics and gynecology (Am J Obstet Gynecol) Vol. 159 Issue 6 Pg. 1531-5 (Dec 1988) ISSN: 0002-9378 [Print] United States
• PMID: 3061300 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Chorionic Gonadotropin
• pregnanediol-3 alpha-glucuronide
• Progesterone
• Pregnanediol

Topics

• Chorionic Gonadotropin (blood)
• Female
• Humans
• Immunoenzyme Techniques
• Pregnancy
• Pregnancy, Ectopic (diagnosis)
• Pregnanediol (analogs & derivatives, urine)
• Progesterone (blood)
• Radioimmunoassay
• Sensitivity and Specificity
• Time Factors