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Background: The accuracy of serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) detection is crucial for the diagnosis of gestational and trophoblastic tumors. Rheumatoid factor (RF), as a common autoantibody in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, often leads to interference in immune detection.
Methods: We report a case of using dithiothreitol (DTT) to successfully eliminate the interference of RF to hCG detection.
Results: After DTT pretreatment, serum RF level decreased from 293.5 IU/mL to 11.4 IU/mL, while hCG level decreased from 39.36 mIU/mL to 4.12 mIU/mL. The validation results of the Roche electrochemiluminescence platform (2.3 mIU/mL) confirmed that the increase of hCG was a false positive.
Conclusions: When the serum hCG of patients with rheumatoid arthritis is abnormally high and there is no clinical manifestation of pregnancy or trophoblastic tumor, we should be alert to the possibility of RF interference. It is recommended to use DTT to pretreat samples. This can easily and efficiently eliminate interference, ensure the accuracy of detection, and avoid misdiagnosis.
DOI: 10.7754/Clin.Lab.2025.250723
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