Are Serum Levels of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor a Marker for the Early Diagnosis of Ectopic Pregnancy?

NCT01261026 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL

Last updated 2010-12-16

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) concentrations in women with ectopic pregnancy (EP), abnormal intrauterine pregnancy (aIUP) and normal intrauterine pregnancy (nIUP).

METHODS: This was a prospective, case-control study comparing serum VEGF concentrations among 72 women with ectopic pregnancy (n=35), abnormal IUP (n=15) and normal IUP (n=22) matched for gestational age. For the determination of serum VEGF concentration a solid phase sandwich ELISA was used. Patients were stratified according to serum VEGF above or below 200pg/mL.

RESULTS: The serum level of VEGF was significantly higher in women with ectopic pregnancy (median 211.1 pg/mL; range 5 - 1017.0 pg/mL) than in women with normal IUP (median 5 pg/mL; range 5- 310.6 pg/mL) P \< 0.0001. Serum VEGF concentrations did not show any statistically significant difference between women with aIUP (median 231.9 pg/mL range 5 - 813.7 pg /mL ) and EP (median 211.1 pg/mL range 5 - 1017.0 pg/mL). When cut-off concentrations of 200 pg/mL for VEGF were used, a nIUP could be distinguished from an unviable (EP and aIUP) with a sensitive of 53%, specificity of 90.9%, a positive predictive value of 92.9% and a negative predictive value of 46.5%..

CONCLUSIONS: Serum VEGF could not distinguish between an EP and an aIUP. However, serum VEGF concentrations above 200 pg/mL could discriminate a nIUP from an unviable pregnancy (EP or aIUP) with a PPV of 92.9%.

Conditions

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Federal University of São Paulo

    lead OTHER

Eligibility

Min Age
15 Years
Max Age
40 Years
Sex
FEMALE
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Countries

  • Brazil

Study Locations

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Entities

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01261026 on ClinicalTrials.gov