Accuracy of Early beta-HCG Levels in Predicting Fetal Viability

An abstract presented at the April, 2013 meeting of the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society reviewed serial quantitative beta-HCG levels obtained every two days in the early first trimester of successfully treated infertility patients. They reviewed outcomes among more than 7000 pregnant patients in whom the quantitative beta-HCG level had failed to double on one or more occasions up to a total of 10,000 mIU/mL. Among those patients whose beta-HCG level failed to double at least once during monitoring, they found only one patient who continued to a viable pregnancy at 12 weeks of gestation.  They concluded that if even one beta-HCG level failed to double  properly over 48 hours up to levels of 10,000 mIU/mL, a woman rarely delivered a live baby.  The single patient in this study who had failure of the beta-HCG level to double, yet continued to a live birth, is evidence that it is still possible, though highly unlikely, that a live birth will be achieved in these circumstances.

This information is valuable for physicians counseling patients as to the likelihood of a successful pregnancy based on early information provided by serial quantitative beta-HCG levels.

Source: Pacific Coast Reproductive Society Meeting Abstracts, April 2013; Check, et. al.