Reliable detection of ruptured membranes.

Prolactin Concentration in Vaginal Fluid: A New Method for Diagnosing Ruptured Membranes

“…THE diagnosis of prematurely ruptured membranes remains a frequent diagnostic and therapeutic problem in obstetrics and most of the methods available until now for demonstrating the presence of amniotic fluid in the vagina are unreliable. Nile blue positive cells (Brosens and Gordon, 1965) in the vagina can be missed or may be absent, especially before 36 weeks gestation, and a neutral pH (Mills and Garrioch, 1977;Sklovsky and MacLennan, 1976) can occur not only in women with ruptured membranes but also as a consequence of cervicitis or of blood contamination.…”