Lung carcinoma presenting with pathologic femur fracture and false-positive pregnancy test result.

Brandon C Maughan, Achyut Kamat

Department of Emergency Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA. bmaughan@brown.edu

Annals of emergency medicine 2012 Sep

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β-Human chorionic gonadotropin (βhCG) assays are routinely used to test for pregnancy. However, βhCG may be elevated in conditions other than pregnancy. We describe a case of metastatic lung adenocarcinoma presenting with a pathologic femur fracture and a false-positive urine pregnancy test. Lung cancer is the most common nongestational malignancy that produces βhCG among reproductive-age women. Emergency physicians should consider this rare cause of a positive pregnancy test result in women who deny recent sexual intercourse, especially if the patient is older than 40 years, has a history of tobacco use, or presents with respiratory complaints. Copyright © 2012. Published by Mosby, Inc.

Citation

Brandon C Maughan, Achyut Kamat. Lung carcinoma presenting with pathologic femur fracture and false-positive pregnancy test result. Annals of emergency medicine. 2012 Sep;60(3):378-80