Fetal Fibronectin

Fetal Fibronectin (fFN) is a proteinproduced by fetalcells. fFN is found at the interface of the chorionand the decidua(between the fetal sack and the uterine lining).

Its characteristics are basically adhesive for most of the pregnancy and it is likely to be the "biological glue" that binds the fetal sack to the uterine lining. Because of this fFN has become an excellent biological marker to indicate likelihood of premature (preterm) delivery, less than 37 weeks gestation.

Fetal fibronectin will "leak" into the vaginaif a preterm delivery is likely to occur. fFN can be measured in a diagnostic test available in many hospital and clinical laboratories around the world. When the fFN test is positive, there is need for increased attention and care. When the fFN test is negative, it means that there is little if any danger of preterm labourfor 7-10 days. The test is easily performed. A specimen is collected from the patient using a vaginal swab. The swab is placed in a transport tube and sent to the lab for testing. The lab can easily produce a test result in less than one hour.

A systematic review of the medical literaturefound that fetal fibronectin is a good predictor of spontaneous preterm birth before cervical dilation.^{[{{fullurl:Template:FULLPAGENAME}}#endnote_Honest]} Over 1400 hospitals in the USAroutinely provide fFN test service for their obstetric staff. The fFN test is approved be the FDAfor both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. The test may be run on patients between 22 and 35 weeks gestation.

Reference

1. ^  Honest H, Bachmann LM, Gupta JK, Kleijnen J, Khan KS. Accuracy of cervicovaginal fetal fibronectin test in predicting risk of spontaneous preterm birth: systematic review. BMJ. 2002 Aug 10;325(7359):301. PMID 12169504. Full Text.

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It uses material from the Wikipedia article Fetal Fibronectin.