title: Early pregnancy factor as a marker for assessing embryonic viability in threatened and missed abortions.
abstract: It is now well recognized that the presence of early pregnancy factor (EPF) can signify the occurrence of fertilization, continuation of pregnancy and the existence of a viable embryo. With this in view, a study was undertaken to observe the potential of EPF as a marker in assessing embryo viability in cases complicated with vaginal bleeding during early pregnancy. The results indicated that the sensitivity of EPF as a marker in predicting threatened or missed abortion was 78.9% and the specificity 95.6%. The positive predictive value was observed to be 93.8% and the negative predictive value 84.6%. Our studies have shown that since EPF is present in viable but absent in non-viable pregnancies, it could be a useful marker of prognostic value in threatened abortions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Institute for Research in Reproduction (ICMR), Bombay, India.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Shahani
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Moniz
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Bordekar
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Naik
mesh_terms: D000030:Abortion, Missed / Q000097:blood*; D000033:Abortion, Threatened / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D018835:Chaperonin 10; D005260:Female; D005328:Fetal Viability; D006801:Humans; D010455:Peptides / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013491:Suppressor Factors, Immunologic
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D018835:Chaperonin 10; D010455:Peptides; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins; D013491:Suppressor Factors, Immunologic; C025124:early pregnancy factor