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It was anything but a bundle of joy.
A woman was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer after experiencing symptoms that led doctors to initially believe she was pregnant.
But instead of carrying new life, she was suddenly fighting for her own.
The 36-year-old sought medical help after three months of heavy, abnormal menstrual bleeding. Her periods had always been regular before, lasting four to five days every 28 to 30 days.
In a case report, doctors noted she appeared pale, though her vital signs were stable. A pregnancy test came back positive — and a firm mass in her abdomen seemed to confirm it.
Initial ultrasounds suggested an ectopic pregnancy — a life-threatening condition where a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tube. If untreated, it can rupture and cause fatal internal bleeding.
But further imaging revealed it wasn’t a pregnancy at all. Instead, there was a large mass on her right ovary.
Surgeons promptly removed the mass, along with the woman’s uterus, ovaries and nearby lymph nodes. Genetic testing confirmed the tumor was a non-gestational ovarian choriocarcinoma (NGOC), an extremely rare cancer.
NGOC typically affects young women and can be difficult to diagnose, as it mimics pregnancy-related symptoms like vaginal bleeding and elevated levels of the pregnancy hormone hCG.
It makes up less than 0.6% of ovarian germ cell cancers, which originate from reproductive cells in the ovaries that normally mature into eggs.
That’s different from gestational choriocarcinoma (GOC), the more common form, which typically develops from cells that were part of the placenta during pregnancy.
NGOC often begins in the ovaries or uterus but can quickly spread to the lungs, liver and other organs. It typically carries a poorer prognosis than GOC, and responds differently to treatment.
Fortunately, in this case, the tumor was caught early and had not yet spread when it was removed.
Following surgery and two cycles of chemotherapy, the woman’s hCG levels returned to normal. Doctors will continue to monitor her closely, conducting regular hormone tests and imaging scans to check for any signs of recurrence.
What else can cause a false positive pregnancy test?
As terrifying as this case is, it’s not the only reason a pregnancy test can read as positive without a baby on board.
“Home urine pregnancy tests are pretty reliable, but there are some reasons you might get a false-positive result,” Dr. Jonathan Emery, an OB-GYN, told the Cleveland Clinic.
One of the biggest culprits? Early pregnancy loss.
“It’s not technically false since a very early pregnancy did occur,” Emery explained. “But this is the most common reason that a pregnancy test might appear to have been false.”
The same effect can also happen after an abortion, when leftover pregnancy hormones may linger in the body for four to six weeks.
Certain medications, including fertility treatments, performance-enhancing drugs or anything containing synthetic hCG, can trigger a false positive as well.
In other cases, elevated hCG levels may be linked to underlying medical conditions such as urinary tract infections, ovarian cysts, kidney disease, or cancers of the ovary, bladder, liver and other organs.
And sometimes, it just comes down to user error. “If you don’t follow all the instructions, any results — positive or negative — could be false,” Emery said.
