A simple method for the early detection of pregnancy: (A) Comparative study with radioimmunoassay of beta-HCG: and (B) Fallacies compared to other immunological pregnancy tests.

A simple, sensitive and reliable non-radioactive method for the detection of hCG in concentrated urine for the diagnosis of early pregnancy is reported. Twenty ml of urine were sampled, filtered and concentrated by ultrafiltration with ultra-microporous membrane under reduced pressure (Immersible Molecular Separator, Millipore Co) and the hCG in the concentrate was detected by the ordinary latex agglutination inhibition method using beta-hCG antiserum to avoid cross-reaction with high levels of hLH and hMG. Concentrated and unconcentrated urine samples taken at different periods of amenorrhoea (1, 2 and 3 weeks) were also tested by two-slide pregnancy tests and one-tube pregnancy test.