Alpha- Foetoprotein in the Diagnosis of Prelabour Rupture of Membranes
Correspondence Address :
Dr. Rajeshwari Gurumoorthy Bhat,
Mamara, First Left Cross, Balaji Lay Out, Kannarpadi, Kadekar Post Udupi-576103, India.
Phone: 8861928280, E-mail: rajibhat@yahoo.co.in
Content: Prelabour rupture of membranes (PROM) complicates overall 10% of gestations which include 7% at term and 3 % preterm gestations. Making an early and accurate diagnosis of PROM is important, to allow gestational age specific obstetric interventions and to optimize perinatal outcome.
Objective: To study the efficacy of alpha-foeto protein in cervicovaginal secretions, to diagnose prelabour rupture of membranes.
Setting: A tertiary care centre. Materials and Methods: We performed a prospective study on 130 patients who were at = 24 weeks of gestation, who had complaint of leaking per vagina, between September 2011 and August 2013. Alpha-foetoprotein test was perfomed on cervicovaginal secretions which were collected during per- speculum examinations. A diagnosis of prelabour rupture of membranes was made, based on combined clinical diagnosis which was made during hospital stay of the patients prospectively. The efficacy of Alpha-foetoprotein was studied.
Stastical Analysis: Chi-square test, Kappa analysis.
Results: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of Alpha-foetoprotein were 88.9%, 98.5%, 98.3%, 90.1% and 93.8% respectively. Degree of agreement of Alpha-foetoprotein with combined clinical diagnosis was 0.875.
Conclusion: Assessment of alpha-foetoprotein levels in cervi - covaginal secretions can be used as a reliable test to diagnose prelabour rupture of membranes when faced with a diagnostic dilemma.
Alpha-foetoprotein, Prelabour rupture of membranes, Combined clinical diagnosis
DOI: 10.7860/JCDR/2014/8259.5093
Date of Submission: Dec 20, 2013
Date of Peer Review: Feb 16, 2014
Date of Acceptance: Feb 16, 2014
Date of Publishing: Nov 20, 2014
Financial OR OTHER COMPETING INTERESTS: None.
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