Korean J Clin Pathol.  1997 Dec;17(6):968-974.

The Usefulness of Fetal Fibronectin in Pregnant Women

• Choi KM
• Cho DH
• Lee SY

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The purpose of our study is to evaluate the usefulness of cervicovaginal fetal fibronectin assay for the prediction of rupture of membrane and preterm labor.
METHODS
A group of 39 pregnant women was involved in this prospective study. Out of 139 pregnant women, 96 were clinically diagnosed as ruptured membranes (group A). The remaining 43 of 139 pregnant women were clinically diagnosed as preterm labor(group B). The assay was performed by using the ROMCheckTM kit (Adeza Biomedical Corp., Sunnyvale, CA).
RESULTS
In group 4, fetal fibronectin (fFN) positive rate is 55% (53 patients) and negative rate is 45% (43 patients). In group B, fFN positive rate is 56% (24 patients) and negative rate is 44% (19 patients). Both group of fFN positive patients show a significantly shorter interval from sampling to delivery than fFN negative patients. Also in group A, the percentage of fFN positive patients who delivered at less than 48 hours after sampling is greater than those with fFN negative patients and in group B, the preterm delivery rate is 79% with positive fFN and 37% with negative fFN. As a predictor for preterm delivery, the presence of fFN has the sensitivity 79%, the specificity 84%, the positive Predictive value 76% and the negative predictive value 86%.
CONCLUSIONS
The result suggests that a positive fFN in pregnant women who have uterine contractions and ruptured membrane indicates a significant risk for preterm delivery and labor onset, and a negative fFN is a reassuring sign.

MeSH Terms

Female
Fibronectins*
Humans
Labor Onset
Membranes
Obstetric Labor, Premature
Pregnancy
Pregnant Women*
Prospective Studies
Rupture
Sensitivity and Specificity
Uterine Contraction
Fibronectins