The Southern Medical Journal (SMJ) is the official, peer-reviewed journal of the Southern Medical Association. It has a multidisciplinary and inter-professional focus that covers a broad range of topics relevant to physicians and other healthcare specialists.

SMJ // Article

Primary Article

The Evaluation of Fetal Lung Maturity by Amniotic Fluid Analysis

Authors: GARY P. WOOD MD

Abstract

AbstractThe frequent necessity for termination of pregnancy before the spontaneous onset of labor requires that we be able to accurately predict fetal lung maturity. We have used amniotic fluid studies for evaluation of fetal lung maturity and have found that (1) a “fat” cell concentration of 30% or more, or (2) a creatinine concentration of 2.0 mg/100 ml or more, or (3) a lecithin:sphingomyelin (L:S) ration of 2.0 or greater all correlated well with fetal maturity. Since each of these studies is open to a variety of possible errors, the use of several different ones adds reliability to the estimation of fetal lung maturity.

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