What causes beta hCG to increase after ectopic pregnancy?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article was professionally consulted by Dr. Nguyen Anh Tu - Doctor of Obstetric Ultrasound - Prenatal Diagnosis - Obstetrics Department - Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital.
Understanding the causes of increased beta hCG after ovum aspiration will help doctors soon identify as well as give the best treatment, avoiding dangerous complications that may occur to the patient.

1. Ovulation and beta hCG . levels

Ovarian pregnancy is an abnormal pregnancy that is expressed in the phenomenon that part or all of the placenta degenerates into small and large fluid-filled sacs and stick together in clusters like frog eggs. The majority of ectopic pregnancies are benign cases, however, in the process of progress, ovum pregnancy can cause dangerous complications such as miscarriage, causing heavy bleeding or uterine perforation due to the implantation of the egg into the uterus. .
Ovarian pregnancy can cause dangerous complications in about 10-30% of egg pregnancies, and can even lead to glioblastoma. Malignant tumors and cancer cells often invade deep into the uterine lining and cause necrosis, bleeding, and distant metastases to other organs in the body such as the brain, lungs, liver, etc. treatment. Therefore, when a patient is diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy, the doctor usually prescribes an aspiration curettage as soon as possible to prevent miscarriage causing bleeding. For those over 40 who have had enough children and do not want to have more children, a total hysterectomy can be applied.
Beta hCG is a human placental gonadotropin hormone and is secreted by placental trophoblasts after the egg is fertilized. When not pregnant, no HCG levels appear.

2. Monitor beta HCG levels after egg aspiration

Most of the pregnancies are benign, accounting for about 80%, the disease is cured quickly after abortion, after that, the patient will stop bleeding, the uterus shrinks quickly after about 5-6 days, the thyroid cyst is smaller and smaller. disappear. Beta HCG test levels drop rapidly within a few days and can drop to as little as 350-500mUI/ml in a few weeks. Therefore, doctors will monitor beta HCG levels and do some beta HCG tests to diagnose pregnancy as follows:
Blood and urine tests every 2 weeks until beta HCG returns to normal When The beta HCG index after aspiration returns to normal, the patient must continue to test the urine every 4 weeks for the next 6 months. In addition, it should be combined with other tests such as ultrasound if necessary. In order to detect complications of the oocyte, some abnormal manifestations are expressed by beta hCG levels such as:
Thyroid cyst does not disappear or appear nodules metastasize, uterus is still enlarged Beta HCG concentration next time tested higher than the previous time Beta HCG concentration through three consecutive tests does not decrease or decreases by less than 10% Beta HCG concentration > 20,000 UI/L after 4 weeks of egg abortion Beta HCG concentration >500 UI/L after 7 weeks of suction cure Fetal pregnancy Beta HCG concentration > 5UI/L after 6 months of egg aspiration

3. Causes of beta HCG increase after egg aspiration

After egg aspiration, the beta hCG level must decrease gradually, however, due to some reasons, the beta hCG level increases after aspiration, such as: Uterine disease progression to glioblastoma and chemotherapy treatment More rarely, a much lower drop in beta hCg the week after testing, this may be due to an error in the test and the patient needs to Beta hCG should continue to be monitored. Fetal trophoblastic neoplasms can be up to 20%, but if detected early, the ability to cure the disease will be very high. Usually, pregnancy is quite benign, but for a number of different reasons, it can make them abnormal and seriously affect health if not examined, monitored and treated. Therefore, women of reproductive age should go for regular health check-ups and closely monitor them if they have a medical history.

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