Clinical Chemistry, Vol 33, 554-558, Copyright © 1987 by American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Prospective clinical evaluation of an improved fluorescence polarization assay for predicting fetal lung maturity

JF Talt, CA Foerder, ER Ashwood and TJ Benedetti

We performed a prospective clinical evaluation of our newly developed fluorescence polarization procedure to predict fetal lung maturity (Clin Chem 1986;32:248-54). Net fluorescence polarization was measured at 34 degrees C after a 6.5-min incubation of amniotic fluid with fluorophore. For the 26 cases of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome encountered in 196 deliveries, the net polarization exceeded 0.287 for 22 (85%) of these, and exceeded 0.260 for all 26. The specificity of the polarization assay equaled or exceeded the specificity of the lecithin/sphingomyelin ratio for all sensitivities greater than 70%. Neither assay was a good predictor of the clinical severity of respiratory distress. For a separate group of 21 amniotic fluid specimens clinically contaminated with blood or meconium, the discriminatory power of the polarization assay was decreased, but six of seven respiratory-distress cases still had polarization values greater than 0.260. We conclude that this fluorescence polarization assay is a better overall predictor of fetal lung maturity than is the lecithin/sphingomyelin ratio, and that polarization values less than 0.260 are associated with little risk of respiratory distress.

The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:

				E. R. Ashwood Standards of laboratory practice: evaluation of fetal lung maturity Clin. Chem., January 1, 1997; 43(1): 211 - 214. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]