Using a decline in serum hCG between days 0-4 to predict ectopic pregnancy treatment success after single-dose methotrexate: a retrospective cohort study

Monika Michalina Skubisz, Philip Dutton, William Colin Duncan, Andrew W Horne, Stephen Tong

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29 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The current measure of treatment efficacy of single-dose methotrexate for ectopic pregnancy, is a fall in serum hCG of >/=15 between days 4-7 of treatment, which has a positive predictive value of 93 for treatment success. Two small studies have proposed a fall in serum hCG between days 0-4 after treatment confers similar, earlier prognostic information, with positive predictive values of 100 and 88 for treatment success. We sought to validate this in a large, independent cohort because of the potentially significant clinical implications. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of women (n=206) treated with single-dose methotrexate for ectopic pregnancy (pre-treatment serum hCG levels /=15 fall in serum hCG between days 4-7 of treatment) and an alternate early measure (
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1 - 5
Number of pages5
JournalBMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
Volume13
Issue numberArt. ID: 30
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

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