The Role of Amniotic Fluid Analysis

Antepartum Assessment in High-Risk Pregnancy

“…Hemolytic disease of the newborn is now limited to those women who were sensitized before the availability of RhoGam and to the 2 or 3% of Rh-negative women who become sensitized without apparent cause.4 If the indirect Coombs' test antibody titer of the Rh-negative mother rises above 1:16, amniocentesis is done to determine the severity of the hemolytic disease in the fetus. 5 The quantitative amount of bilirubin pigment in the amniotic fluid at a given gestational November/December 1975 JOCN Nursing age indicates the degree of fetal hemolysis and can indicate the need for intervention or intrauterine fetal transfusion.…”