Ultrasonograph versus β-human chorionic gonadotropin titer for verification of termination of missed first trimester miscarriage

Abstract

Introduction Miscarriage is one of the common complications of pregnancy. Up to 20% of recognized pregnancies will end in miscarriage. However, when women were followed with serial serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) measurements, the actual miscarriage rate was found to be 31%. Many pregnancies are lost spontaneously before a woman recognizes that she is pregnant, and the clinical signs of miscarriage are mistaken for a heavy or late menses. In some countries with low resources, ultrasound may be not available in all medical centers. So, confirmation of complete termination of first trimesteric miscarriage may be not possible, and these cases may present with complications of inadequate treatment. So, we need to study other method for verification of successful management such as β-hCG titter. Objective The aim was to assess the usefulness of testing serum β-hCG titer to confirm the effective medical termination of the first trimester miscarriage. Patients and methods A prospective study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Al Zahraa university Hospital in the period between December 2017 and April 2018. A total of 34 pregnant women with first trimester miscarriage (7–13 weeks from the first day of last menstrual period) were submitted for medical termination of miscarriage, and each case was subjected to ultrasonography 7 days after termination of miscarriage (for measurements of endometrial thickness) and serum β-hCG at 3 and 7 days after termination of miscarriage. Results Endometrial thickness decreased after termination of miscarriage (with cut-off value <15 mm). Moreover, β-hCG decreased after medical termination of miscarriage. In our study, receiver operating characteristics curve was used to define the best cut-off value of β-hCG, which was greater than 34 mIU/ml, with sensitivity of 90%, specificity of 70.8%, positive predictive value of 56.4%, and negative predictive value of 94.4%, with diagnostic accuracy of 83.5%. Conclusion Measuring β-hCG level is an effective alternative to transvaginal ultrasound measurements of endometrial thickness to verify the completion of termination of early miscarriage.