Medical Questions » Pregnancy Questions » Question No. 792
| Question: | How soon can pregnancy be diagnosed by blood and urine tests? |
| Answer: | Modern urine pregnancy tests used by doctors are now nearly as accurate as blood tests. These new urine tests have been developed through genetic engineering techniques to enable the unique hormone of pregnancy (known as human chorionic gonadotrophin) to be detected as early as two days BEFORE a period is expected, or twelve days after the sexual intercourse that is responsible for a pregnancy.
Any woman who is ar all late in having her period, and feels she may be pregnant, should visit her general practitioner. Most doctors will not accept the results of a home testing kit as proof of pregnancy.
Blood tests are only marginally more accurate, and usually only ordered in women who have kidneys that fail to excrete the pregnancy hormone. |
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