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

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

Research Article

Philip Dutton¹  Andrew W Horne¹  William Colin Duncan¹  Stephen Tong²  Monika Skubisz³ 

[1] MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh, EH16 4TJ, Edinburgh, UK;Translational Obstetrics Group, University of Melbourne, Mercy Hospital for Women, 3084, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia;Translational Obstetrics Group, University of Melbourne, Mercy Hospital for Women, 3084, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia;The Ritchie Centre, Monash Institute of Medical Research, Monash University, 3168, Clayton, Victoria, Australia;

关键词: Ectopic pregnancy;    Human chorionic gonadotrophin;    Medical management;    Methotrexate;    Positive predictive value;    Treatment success;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2393-13-30

 received in 2012-10-18, accepted in 2013-01-29,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe 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.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective study of women (n=206) treated with single-dose methotrexate for ectopic pregnancy (pre-treatment serum hCG levels ≤3000 IU/L) at Scottish hospitals between 2006–2011. Women were divided into two cohorts based on whether their serum hCG levels rose or fell between days 0–4 after methotrexate. Treatment outcomes of women in each cohort were compared, and the test performance characteristics calculated. This methodology was repeated for the current measure (≥15% fall in serum hCG between days 4–7 of treatment) and an alternate early measure (<20% fall in serum hCG between days 0–4 of treatment), and all three measures were compared for their ability to predict medical treatment success.ResultsIn our cohort, the positive predictive value of the current clinical measure was 89% (95% CI 84-94%) (121/136). A falling serum hCG between days 0–4 predicted treatment success in 85% (95% CI 79-92%) of cases (94/110) and a <20% fall in serum hCG between days 0–4 predicted treatment success in 94% (95% CI 88-100%) of cases (59/63). There was no significant difference in the ability of these tests to predict medical treatment success.ConclusionsWe have verified that a decline in serum hCG between days 0–4 after methotrexate treatment for ectopic pregnancies, with pre-treatment serum hCG levels ≤3000 IU/L, provides an early indication of likelihood of treatment success, and performs just as well as the existing measure, which only provides prognostic information on day 7.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Skubisz et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013