Growth factor helps diagnose ectopic pregnancy:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) could be used to diagnose ectopic pregnancy, according to a study carried out by researchers at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Centre in Israel. Progesterone and human chorionic gonadotrophin have both been used for this purpose, but neither is highly specific for ectopic pregnancy. Elevated VEGF levels had a sensitivity of 60% and a specificity of 90% for distinguishing extrauterine from interuterine pregnancies, the researchers report in Fertility and Sterility (December). Combining the VEGF measurement with serum progesterone levels enhanced the test's specificity to 95%.