Clinical Chemistry, Vol 40, 541-545, Copyright © 1994 by American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Diagnostic power of lecithin/sphingomyelin ratio and fluorescence polarization assays for respiratory distress syndrome compared by relative operating characteristic curves

TM Bender, LR Stone and JS Amenta
Department of Pathology, Magee Womens Hospital, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA 15213.

Amniotic fluids from 328 patients were analyzed for lecithin/sphingomyelin (L/S) ratio and surfactant/albumin (S/A) ratio by fluorescence polarization. Of this group, 61 neonates showed respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) on delivery within 3 days of testing. We compared the power of the L/S and S/A in diagnosing pulmonary maturity, using relative operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The area defined by the ROC curve of the S/A test exceeded the area defined by the L/S curve, but this difference was not statistically significant. The diagnostic power of the S/A test appears to be at least equal to that of the standard L/S test. A review of five cases of RDS in which laboratory tests had suggested maturity showed that neither the L/S nor the S/A could satisfactorily resolve the problem of false interpretations of maturity, particularly in mothers with diabetes mellitus who underwent cesarean section.

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]