DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2014.v02i09.003

Pages: 573-576

Prelabour rupture of membranes represents one of the most frequent and most controversial problem obstetricians are faced with. The timely and accurate diagnosis of ruptured fetal membranes during pregnancy is of utmost importance for indicating the appropriate approach towards treatment. The objective was to find out agreement between amniotic fluid detection kit and fern test in detection of prelabor rupture of membrane (PROM) in women with history of suspicion of PROM or unexplained vaginal wetness. One sixty eligible women with history of suspected leaking were subjected to fern test and Amniotic Fluid Detector Panty Liner Kit (AFDK) test, after excluding out obvious leaking by speculum examination. Results were statistically analysed and investigated regarding reliability, sensitivity and specificity of AFDK. Mean age of the women was 23.66 ± 2.75 yrs. Majority of cases (63.13%) was primigravidae and in the 36-40 wks gestational age group (53.75%). The overall agreement between AFDK and fern test was 92.5%. Sensitivity and specificity of AFDK was 90.91% and 93.61% respectively. In our study positive predictive value of AFDK was 90.90% and negative predictive value was 93.61%. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that amniotic fluid detection kit is highly sensitive, non-invasive method and more acceptable than speculum examination to detect the presence of amniotic fluid.