Clinical follow-up of high mid-trimester maternal serum intact human chorionic gonadotrophin concentrations in singleton pregnancies
✍ Scribed by Gillian Blundell; J. Peter Ashby; Cameron Martin; Catherine H. Shearing; Barbara Langdale-Brown; Jean Keeling; Patricia M. Ellis; Mary Shade; Sarah E. Chambers; Philip R. Wenham
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 163 KB
- Volume
- 19
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0197-3851
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✦ Synopsis
Mid-trimester biochemical screening of 38 143 pregnancies in south-east Scotland revealed 127 cases (0•34 per cent) in which the maternal serum (MS) intact human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) concentration was _4 multiples of the median in singleton pregnancies (MOM). Three were lost to follow-up but in 72 (58 per cent) complications developed or there were associated fetal abnormalities. This percentage was greatest at very high hCG concentrations, 92 per cent with hCG _10 MOM (n=12) compared with 48 per cent with hCG concentrations of 4-4•99 MOM (n=69). 22 cases had an MS alpha-fetoprotein _2 MOM in addition to an MS hCG _4 MOM, and in only 3 of these was the pregnancy uneventful; 86 per cent were associated with abnormalities or pregnancy complications.