[Hormonal pregnancy parameters in the serum following surgery for extrauterine pregnancy]

We did serial determinations of beta-HCG, total-HCG, prolactin, SP-1, and progesterone in maternal serum after operation of an ectopic pregnancy in 38 patients. Prolactin, progesterone and SP-1 rapidly returned to normal values after removal of the ectopic pregnancy. However, the half life of HCG was related to the type of operation: after conservative operation of ectopic pregnancy the half life of HCG was greater than after tubectomy (41.4 +/- 1.9 SEM hours versus 33.4 +/- 2.0 hours), possibly due to lack of complete removal of trophoblast tissue. This fact should be kept in mind when evaluating postoperative HCG levels.