EVALUATION OF POST-TERM PREGNANCIES WITH MATERNAL SERUM PLACENTAL LACTOGEN AND ALPHA-FETOPROTEIN CONCENTRATIONS

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 50  (4) , 445-449
Abstract
Studies of maternal serum placental lactogen (hPL) levels in 70 (women delivering beyond 42 wk of gestation revealed significantly lower levels of hPL when the offspring had 1 or more of 10 signs of postmaturity or distress. A sequential combination of hPL measurements and intrapartum fetal heart rate monitoring (FHRM) (performed in 61 patients) gave a high degree of prognosis (75% of abnormalities detected, 88% with normal tests having no abnormalities). Considered separately, neither maternal serum hPL levels nor FHRM predicted abnormalities in the offspring to the same high degree. hPL could not be correlated with staining, desquamation and the presence of meconium in the amniotic fluid at delivery, these criteria being considered separately or in combination. Maternal serum alphafetoprotein (AFP) levels during late gestation showed considerable variation and did not permit distinction between pregnancies with or without an abnormality in the offspring.

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