Amniotic fluid S100B protein in mid-gestation and intrauterine fetal death.

Lancet. 2004 Jul 17;364(9430):270-2. 
  
Amniotic fluid S100B protein in mid-gestation and intrauterine fetal death.

Florio P, Michetti F, Bruschettini M, Lituania M, Bruschettini P, Severi FM, 
Petraglia F, Gazzolo D.

Department of Paediatrics, Obstetrics, and Reproductive Medicine, University of 
Siena, Policlinico Le Scotte, viale Bracci, 53100 Siena, Italy.

Fetal death in the mid-trimester of pregnancy is unexplained and no reliable 
markers are available to identify at-risk women. We aimed to assess use of alpha 
fetoprotein and S100B concentrations in amniotic fluid as markers. We did a 
case-control study in 758 healthy women undergoing amniocentesis at mid-gestation, 
of whom 12 had a spontaneous intrauterine fetal death before 28 weeks, and 746 
matched controls. Concentrations were corrected for gestational age by conversion 
to multiples of median (MoM) of healthy controls of the same gestational age. 
Concentrations of S100B, but not alpha fetoprotein, were significantly higher 
(p<0.0001) in women who later had spontaneous fetal death (median 4.431 MoM 
[95%CI 3.605-6.197]) than in controls (1.000 MoM [1.062-1.121]). Sensitivity, 
specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of S100B as a 
diagnostic test were 100%, suggesting that measurement of this protein at 
amniocentesis could be useful to identify at-risk women.

PMID: 15262105 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] 


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