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Pregnancy Blood Test
A pregnancy blood test is used to measure the amount of pregnancy hormones, human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), in a pregnant woman's blood stream. The placenta produces human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), and can be detected in her system as early as 10 days after conception. A pregnancy blood test consists of two types, the quantitative blood test that will measure the human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the blood, and the qualitative test that will give a direct yes or no answer for being pregnant.
Detecting Pregnancy in the Blood Stream Can take Place at an Early Stage
While home pregnancy tests are effective, the truth is that an actual blood test can provide results in a much earlier date. Results from a pregnancy blood test can be detected as early as 7 to 12 days after conception is suspected. These blood tests also measure the amount of human chorionic gonadotopin that may helpful to your physician to detect any pregnancy complications. If you are experiencing health symptoms that are similar to pregnancy symptom, such as a delayed menstrual cycle, tenderness in the breast area, or irregular spotting, a pregnancy blood test should be taken to rule that out as an issue.
Is a Pregnancy Blood Test as Accurate as a Urine Test?
Actually, a pregnancy blood test is more accurate than the urine test that is taken at home. In fact, research shows that 6% of home pregnancy tests that provide negative results are actually falsely negative. This means that the woman who believes she is not pregnant actually is despite the results of the urine test. In the beginning it was expected that a urine test would be found to be as accurate as a blood test, but that is not the case. Therefore, the majority of hospitals and other health facilities will use the blood test for women that are less than four weeks pregnant. This tells us that blood tests actually are more accurate than urine pregnancy test.
Additional Benefits of Blood Test during Pregnancy
When a woman is pregnant and healthy, she can expect to show normal patterns of HCG in a set time period. Furthermore, her levels of human chorionic gonadotropin will increase in the early stages and decrease gradually. A blood test can be given on more than one occasion to show if the levels of the pregnant woman are normal. If there are issues with the HCG levels, there may be issues with the pregnancy. Once child birth, miscarriage, or abortion take place the level should immediately return to zero.
A home pregnancy test can prove to be very accurate. However, is not nearly as accurate as a blood test. The reliability of a pregnancy blood test will depend upon the lab and technique of the test that is performed, but a blood test will detect the most minimal level of HCG in the very early stages, and is therefore very reliable.
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