High Cervical Fetal-Fibronectin Concentrations and Birth within 3 Days in Pregnancies of 41 Weeks or More

Abstract

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Fetal fibronectin as a predictor of term labor: A literature review

“…Assessing the maturity of the cervix, i.e. the parturient's readiness to give birth, by means of the FFN test, has the potential to obviate the induction of labor in certain cases by furnishing the obstetrical team with a more accurate evaluation, as has also suggested by Mouw et al (9). In the case of positive FFN result it, therefore, appears advisable to await the spontaneous onset of labor which, as the studies discussed in the above show, can be expected to occur within a matter of a few days.…”

“…From five studies included, 480 patients could be extracted (6)(7)(8)(9)(10). All cases included were singleton term pregnancies ±37 gestational weeks of pregnancy.…”

The Interplay of the Interleukin 1 System in Pregnancy and Labor

“…The fFN predicts term labor within 2 to 7 days of sampling with a wide range of sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV, 5,17,[37][38][39][40][41] while IL-1b predicts term labor within 7 days of sampling with 76% sensitivity, 55% specificity, 50% PPV, and 79% NPV. 17 Although the predictive properties of IL-1 and IL-1ra in this current study (either individually or in combination) cannot be directly compared with these previous fFN and IL-1b studies due to different sample-to-delivery time frames and study populations, we believe the combination of the 3 biomarkers (Il-1a, IL-1b, and IL-1ra) to predict spontaneous labor compares favorably to fFN with improved PPV.…”

Fetal Fibronectin in Vaginal Fluid of Women in Prolonged Pregnancy

“…Mouw et al [14] measured fibronectin concentra tions in cervical secretion of 35 women at 41 weeks or more at intervals of 3-5 days. Within 3 days, 16 of 17 women with elevated fibronectin (>0.05 mg/1) had spon taneously delivered.…”