Background: Prediction of lung maturity is important in high-risk pregnancy management. The strongest predictor of lung maturity is gestational age. As a result, infants delivered at fewer than 39 weeks have much greater rates of neonatal morbidity than infants delivered at 39 weeks or longer gestation.
Objective: Evaluate the distal femoral, proximal tibial, as well as proximal humeral ossification centres as predictive tools of the maturity of the fetal lung.
Subjective: A sample of 100 pregnant women will be studied in an observational prospective study at the Obstetrics and Gynecology department, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, Sayed Jalal and Damanhour National Medical Institute.
Results: The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of epiphyseal ossification femoral in predict respiratory distress was 96.0%, 92.0% and 94.0% respectively at cut off value 3, the Epiphyseal Ossification tibia show in predict respiratory distress was 94.0%, 90.0% and 92.0% respectively at cut off value 7. The Epiphyseal Ossification humeral show in predict respiratory distress was 80.0%, 77.0% and 79.0% respectively at cut off value 3.0. Finally the Epiphyseal Ossification Femoral + tibia show sensitivity, specificity and accuracy 100.0% at cut off value 16.0
Conclusion: The ossification centres of the distal femoral, proximal tibial, as well as proximal humeral bones have a good predictive value for the maturity of the fetal lung.