Blood is donated for hCG determination on an empty stomach. Venous blood is used for analysis. The last meal before collecting biomaterial should be taken no later than 8-10 hours. This is necessary in order to exclude chylosis (physical turbidity of blood serum in a test tube due to the presence of large amounts of fat). Chylosis significantly reduces the reliability of the analysis.
It is advisable to keep dinner as light as possible. During the day before donating blood, you should avoid eating fatty, salty, spicy and smoked foods.
It should be taken into account that the reliability of the analysis is affected by taking medications containing hormones. For example, if a woman stimulates ovulation with such drugs, traces of their active components remain in the blood for a long time and may give false positive results.
If pregnancy is suspected, doctors recommend donating blood for hCG 4-6 days after a missed period or 14-20 days after ovulation.
A blood test for this hormone is carried out using the method of enzyme immunoassay of blood serum.
Human chorionic gonadotropin is the most accurate pregnancy marker of all.