Definition

Noun: - A hormone produced by the placenta early in pregnancy: Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a glycoprotein hormone. Its presence in urine or blood is a key indicator used for confirming pregnancy.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The doctor confirmed the pregnancy after detecting human chorionic gonadotropin in the blood test.
  • Home pregnancy tests work by identifying human chorionic gonadotropin in a woman's urine.

Advanced Usage

• Medical Monitoring: In clinical settings, quantitative measurements of human chorionic gonadotropin levels are tracked to monitor early pregnancy progression and health.
• Tumor Marker: In certain non-pregnancy contexts, human chorionic gonadotropin can be produced by some types of tumors and is therefore used as a biochemical marker.

Variants and Related Words

• hCG: The common abbreviation for human chorionic gonadotropin.
  • The lab report showed elevated hCG levels.
• Chorionic gonadotropin: A synonymous term, often used in medical literature.

Synonyms

• Pregnancy hormone: An informal term describing its primary function.

Noun

1. hormone produced early in pregnancy by the placenta; detection in the urine and serum is the basis for one kind of pregnancy test