EARLY-PREGNANCY FACTOR AS A MARKER FOR ASSESSING EMBRYONIC VIABILITY IN THREATENED AND MISSED ABORTIONS

It is now well recognized that the presence of early pregnancy factor (EPF) can signify the occurrence of fertilization, continuation of pre gnancy and the existence of a viable embryo. With this in view, a stud y was undertaken to observe the potential of EPF as a marker in assess ing 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 th e 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 pregnanci es, it could be a useful marker of prognostic value in threatened abor tions.