Radioimmunological determination of the free oestriol in the blood plasma during normal and pathological pregnancies

The radioimmunological method of determining the free oestriol in the blood which was developed by GOEBEL and KUSS was found to be sufficiently specific, unsensitive, exact and suitable. In concensus with the results obtained by other authors, for the course of normal pregnancies a continuous increase in the unconjugate oestriol concentrations of up to a maximum of birth date can be looked at as being physiological. Interrupting or decreasing oestriol levels, however, show a possible danger for the foetus, even if they are within the normal range. In pregnancies with an accompanying EPH-gestosis the hormone level of the free oestriol is a reliable indicator for the foetal matabolic situation; the degree of the severness of the mother's illness allows no prognoses on the influence on the foetus which may be expected. Pregnancies where an abortion is likely to occur can be accompanied by an insufficient increase or a decrease in the unconjugate oestriol concentration. In order to achieve the optimal control in all cases, the values should be controlled daily. The quantities of free eostrial determined in diabetic pregnant women do not permit conclusions concerning the state of the foetus. In all patients even a short time before the foetal death in utero, increasing hormone values in the normal region or far above are found. This observation necessitates much more extensive examinations on diabetic pregnant women. There is a close connection between the free oestriol concentration in the blood and the total oestrogen concentration in the 24 hrs urine. The radioimmunoessay for determining the unconjugate oestriol in the blood is suitable for the control of a pregnancy at risk as a routine method. (orig.)