Spontaneous abortion. How long after will one test positive?

[chbare]

I would say it is highly unlikely to have a false positive test; however, there will always exist a non-zero chance of false positive results.

[Kiwiology]

I was a spontaneous abortion/ EPL and I turned out OK

Excuse me, the lady from the community mental health service is here to make sure I am taking my pills

[BAYAMedic]

One such case of false positives is a male with testicular cancer will come back positive.

Fireman1037

[paramedicmike]

One such case of false positives is a male with testicular cancer will come back positive.

Fireman1037

It's a false positive only if you're testing the male for pregnancy. If you're testing for testicular cancer it wouldn't be a false positive.

[DwayneEMTP]

One such case of false positives is a male with testicular cancer will come back positive.

Fireman1037

Why would a male be taking a pregnancy test? I know that I fell asleep in a couple of classes during A&P...but...

[DFIB]

When we have them we just have simple urine tests.

My main questions is, is there a way for her to have aborted 5 days past yet show negative, confirmed, on a urine test?

This is probably unconventional "back in the world" but will work for you at the "outer edge of civilization". If you need to increase the sensitivity of your HCG urine test you can use blood serum instead of urine. If you have a "tiger top" vacutainer would be best but you can draw a little serum off a tube that has been setting for a couple of hours and use it instead of urine.

Please feel free to educate me as every piece of literature with the kits and the limited reading I have done on this says false positives are not possible as there has to be HcG for it to register. The only way to have HcG is if they are preggers....

Grasshopper is ready to receive....

I believe there are several conditions such as hidatidiform moles and certain cancers such as miomas that can give positive HCG's without the existence of a viable pregnancy.

[ERDoc]

The retained procducts will not produce any BHCG, so your levels will go down pretty quickly assuming your standard SAB/RPOC.

Being that it is 445am, I'm just going to cut and paste some stuff from emedicine:

The prevalence of false-positive serum hCG results is low, with estimates ranging from 0.01-2%. False-positive serum hCG results are usually due to interference by non-hCG substances or the detection of pituitary hCG. Some examples of non-hCG substances that can cause false-positive results include human LH, antianimal immunoglobulin antibodies, rheumatoid factor, heterophile antibodies, and binding proteins. Most false-positive results are characterized by serum levels that are generally less than 1000 mIU/mL and usually less than 150 mIU/mL. The median serum concentration for patients with false-positive results reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1985-2001 is 75 mIU/mL. Also, note that only 2 (0.74%) of 271 separate hCG determinations in undiluted sera in both the FDA database and the literature were greater than 1000 mIU/mL.

The five potential sources of positive hCG results outside of pregnancy are described below:^{[10, 11]}

• Phantom hCG
  
  • Caused by heterophilic antibodies that bind the capture and labeled antibodies together without hCG being present
    
  • Antibody production results from exposure to animals used to produce antibodies used in assay
    
  • Rule out with sensitive urine assay, as these antibodies do not cross into urine
    

  [*]Pituitary hCG

  • Stimulated by gonadotropin-releasing hormone; suppressed by gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist and estrogen/progestin therapy
    
  • Can be detected in postmenopausal women due to increased GnRH secretion (Snyder et al propose that postmenopausal women should have a higher cutoff for a negative hCG of 14 IU/L^[12] )
    
  • Diagnosed by administering oral contraceptive pills, which should suppress hCG levels
    

  [*]Exogenous administration of hCG

  • Used by some centers to aid in weight loss by intramuscular or oral administration
    
  • Repeat hCG assays should be negative if exogenous administration is discontinued for at least 24 hours
    

  [*]Trophoblastic neoplasm - Consists of pregnancy, gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN), and placental site trophoblastic tumors (PSTTs)

  • Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia
    
    • Quiescent - Constant, low levels of hCG without evidence of primary or metastatic malignancy; premalignant state; resistant to chemotherapy and surgery; follow with frequent hCG levels and if found to be rising, consider active gestational trophoblastic neoplasia
      
    • Active - Invasive cytotrophoblasts produce hyperglycosylated hCG found only in early pregnancy and invasive gestational trophoblastic neoplasia; thus, hyperglycosylated hCG or invasive trophoblastic antigen can be measured to rule in active disease
      

    [*]Placental site trophoblastic tumors - Diagnosed with low-level hCG in combination with intramyometrial lesions on imaging

  [*]

  Nontrophoblastic neoplasm - Can be secreted by different cancers, (eg, testicular, bladder, uterine, lung, liver, pancreas, stomach)

[BAYAMedic]

It's a false positive only if you're testing the male for pregnancy. If you're testing for testicular cancer it wouldn't be a false positive.

Ahh Semantics Mike, It would be a false positive if we call the test, a pregnancy test. However, if we call it an Urine HCG detection device then the results coming back would be a legitimate positive.

Dwayne, The reason a male would take one, as it was explained to me, was a quick down dirty cheap test for testicular cancer. Not sure why this would be used solely as I would think additional markers through blood work and histology would be used, But something that came up in pathophysiology back in school.

Fireman1037