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| POSITIVE PREGNANCY TEST IN MENOPAUSE - WHY? |
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Dear Doctor,
I have had 8 blood pregnancy tests in the last few months/ all have come back testing a low positive for pregnancy. Urine tests negative...I have had a d&c, ultrasound, no tumers...I am 47 & have been in menopause for yrs....what could cause my blood to test positive for pregnancy? I have been told...mice antibodies in my system or phantom pregnancy. I know I am not pregnant.
MaryJane, Age: 33, Virginia
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| REPLY |
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MaryJane,
Have you had MRIs and PET scans of the ovaries? Certain HCG producing tumors of the ovaries may not be visible by other methods.
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| FOLLOW-UP |
| My bloodwork first came back positive in Oct 07 during a physical, so they repeated it & sent me to a Gyn. she repeated it, did ultra sounds & did the D&C, she repeated it, the blood work was still positive, but a little lower. a 6, she said not to worry about it.. I was also concerned about a tumer somewhere making my blood test positive, so I went to another Dr. just to get a 2nd opinion, he did another ultra sound & more blood work & called it a phantom pregnancy & not to worry about it. I have had blood tests in the past & have never tested positive before Oct. And no, I have not had an MRI,, although I did get a PET scan - doctors say it is all right.
Thanks
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| REPLY |
HCG can be postive in blood tests due to causes other than pregnancy.
- Tumors like germ cell tumors or dysgerminomas: These are tumors of the ovaries and bladder which arise from cells which have the capacity to change into any type of cells, including cells which produce hormones like HCG and testosterone.
- Pituitary tumors: The pituitary is the main gland in the brain which produces hormones like LH and FSH which are responsible for initiating the menstrual cycle. In a menopausal women, the pituitary can also secrete very small amounts of HCG which are detected in the blood but not in the urine.
- Phantom or false positive hCG production: I think that this is what your doctors suggested you have. Sometimes the body can produce antibodies which react against other antibodies - both human and animals. This reaction can interfere with commercially available HCG tests and produce a false positive pregnancy test or phantom HCG test.
Since the antibodies are present in the blood but not in the urine, it is the blood pregnancy tests which come positive, not the urine tests. Treatment with antibody blocking agents will prevent the false positive tests, but once this condition is confirmed, no specific treatment is necessary.
I believe that you need to get tests like MRI and PET scans to rule out cancers of the ovary and bladder and pituitary tumors. It is only after these tumors are ruled out and your blood has been specifically tested for the presence of antibodies that a false positive or phantom HCG test can be confirmed.
To know more about sources of HCG in the body, please see:
Sources of HCG in the Body
I hope this helps.
Please feel free to ask a follow-up question if you wish to know more.
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| MaryJane paid $20 on September 30 2008 at 2:45 PM
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