Can ectopic pregnancy test strips be detected? Check at the hospital

Early pregnancy test strips can only preliminarily detect whether you are pregnant, but cannot distinguish whether it is an ectopic pregnancy. Because the hCG level of ectopic pregnancy is lower than that of intrauterine pregnancy, it may not be shown in the urine, resulting in a false negative result. Early pregnancy test strips sometimes cannot even accurately determine whether you are pregnant. Can ectopic pregnancy test strips detect it?

In the early pregnancy stage, hCG in normal pregnancy increases very quickly, with a doubling time of 1.4 to 2.2 days, while in abnormal pregnancy (ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage), the doubling time of hCG is 3 to 8 days. If the doubling time of hCG in blood is greater than 7 days when measured continuously, the possibility of ectopic pregnancy is very high. Therefore, if the process of early pregnancy test paper changing from weak positive to strong positive is very slow, it indicates the possibility of ectopic pregnancy, but using test paper to measure color is only an estimation method and is not accurate.

Ectopic pregnancy test paper can detect a strong positive. If the HCG test paper is positive and the abdominal ultrasound examination does not find a gestational sac in the uterine cavity, then the possibility of ectopic pregnancy should generally be considered. But first pay attention to whether the gestational sac is too small to be found. If no gestational sac and other abnormalities are found, you should recheck after 7 days.

Before explaining the earliest time to use early pregnancy test strips, let's first understand the detection principle of early pregnancy test strips: human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is a glycoprotein produced by the placenta during pregnancy and can be excreted from the body through the glomerulus, so measuring HCG in urine is a reliable indicator for diagnosing pregnancy. Early pregnancy test strips use nano-colloidal gold technology and a chromatographic double antibody sandwich method to detect the concentration of HCG in urine to determine whether a woman is pregnant.

Can an ectopic pregnancy test strip detect it? The complete human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is produced entirely by the syncytiotrophoblast of the placental chorion. Its main function is to stimulate the corpus luteum, which is conducive to the continuous secretion of estrogen and progesterone to promote the formation of the uterine decidua and the growth and maturation of the placenta. HCG begins to be secreted about 6 days after fertilization and reaches its peak at 60-70 days. It increases rapidly in the first 8 weeks of pregnancy to maintain pregnancy. After about 8 weeks of pregnancy, HCG gradually decreases until it reaches relative stability at about 20 weeks.