Podcast 858: Whole Blood Pregnancy Test

<p dir="ltr"><strong>Contributor: Meghan Hurley MD</strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Educational Pearls:</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">What do you do if you need a stat pregnancy test on an incapacitated patient?</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">You can send a serum quantitative human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-HCG), but that might take a while for the lab to process.</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Another option is to place a drop of whole blood on a urine pregnancy immunoassay.</p> </li> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">These tests are already verified for urine and serum.</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">2012 study showed that whole blood was 95.8% sensitive for pregnancy compared to 95.3% for urine.</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Takes a little bit longer (10 minutes was used in the study) due to the viscosity of blood.</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="2"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Word of caution: This study only looked at a single urine pregnancy kit type. It is possible that other kits would have a different efficacy.</p> </li> </ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">There are new finger stick tests coming out for capillary blood.</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Anecdotally, Dr. Hurley was able to use this technique to support a diagnosis of ruptured ectopic pregnancy in a patient that needed emergent surgery.</p> </li> </ul> <p dir="ltr"><strong>References</strong></p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Fromm C, Likourezos A, Haines L, Khan AN, Williams J, Berezow J. Substituting whole blood for urine in a bedside pregnancy test. J Emerg Med. 2012 Sep;43(3):478-82. doi: 10.1016/j.jemermed.2011.05.028. Epub 2011 Aug 27. PMID: 21875776.</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentat