What is "human chorionic gonadoptropin" or "hCG"?

What is "human chorionic gonadoptropin" or "hCG"?

Richard Paulson (Chief, Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, USC) gives expert video advice on: What is "ovulation induction"?; What is "clomiphene citrate"? and more...

Human chorionic gonadoptropin, abbreviated to HCG, is the basic hormone involved in pregnancy. HCG is the hormone measured in the urine in a home pregnancy test and you can measure it in the serum too. It is used in the treatment of infertility, because HCG resembles another hormone called Luteinizing Hormone, LH, as it turns out that LH is very difficult to work with. It has a very short half life and is cleared from the circulation very quickly. For this reason, we use HCG to trigger ovulation or to help control the hormonal balance in a patient who's trying to become pregnant, but fundamentally HCG is a hormone of pregnancy and so if you pick it up in the urine, it generally means that the patient is pregnant. It's important to realize that if the HCG is used as a fertility medication, that it sticks around in the circulation for up to two weeks, so you can't take a shot of HCG then do a home pregnancy test then if it's positive think that pregnancy has occurred, because you may just be measuring the hormone that you just injected.