Serum Pregnancy Test, Qualitative
Alternate Names : Qualitative Pregnancy Test, Blood, Qualitative Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Blood Test, Qualititative Serum Beta-HCG
What do the test results mean?
Because the placenta produces HCG, it is an indicator of pregnancy. This test is not able to tell whether or not the pregnancy is healthy. Certain conditions besides pregnancy may cause a positive pregnancy test. These include:
a tumor of the placenta with death of the fetus
ovarian cancer and other types of cancer in some cases
blood or protein in the urine, which can interfere with the result
use of medications to prevent seizures, drugs to treat Parkinson's syndrome, or phenothiazine drugs, such as chlorpromazine, by the mother
The test may register as negative even though a woman is pregnant if the woman takes diuretic medications, or "fluid pills." These drugs interfere with the test results. In addition, the test does not become positive until at least 7 to 10 days after a woman becomes pregnant. In most cases, by the time a woman misses her period the test will be positive if she is pregnant.
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