Amniotic fluid lamellar body count as a novel biochemical marker for timing elective caesarean delivery

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of amniotic fluid lamellar body count (LBC) on the timing of elective caesarean delivery (CS) at ≥ 39 weeks. After allocating the study group (group I, transient tachypnoea of newborn (TTN), n = 14), an age-matched control group (group II, no TTN, n = 79) was selected for amniotic fluid LBC analysis. The median amniotic fluid LBC levels in group I were significantly lower than in the control group. Furthermore, the median values of mean lamellar body volume, median lamellar body distribution width and lamellar bodycrit in group I were also significantly lower than in group II. The best amniotic fluid LBC value to predict TTN was 40.15 × 10³/μl, with 82.3% sensitivity and 64.3% specificity. The favourable sensitivity and specificity values to predict the TTN for amniotic fluid LBC may suggest using it as an elective caesarean delivery-time scheduling marker.

Keywords::

• Amniotic fluid
• elective caesarean delivery
• lamellar body
• transient tachypnoea of newborn

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.