Childbirth is a very important moment for every woman.
Obviously it is also a very stressful and critical pahese. Unfortunately many women experience a life-trheatening spontaneous preterm birth. It is difficult to understand how some pregnancies come to an end before when they should or end with the death of the unborn child.
A study (published in “Science”), by a team of researchers from Stanford University (California-USA) led by Dr. Stephen Quake suggests that, through a blood test, we can predict gestional age and preterm delivery.
The test was still subjected to a limited number of women to have certain results, is still preliminary.
The test proposes, through the identification of some changes in the RNA in the blood, to predict the development of the fetus, the gestional age and if there is a risk of premature birth.
If the research should lead to good results, the gestional age could be expected with this blood test instead of the more expensive technique of ultrasound imaging. Such a test would be a small major revolution, and certainly would have a positive impact on the management of the preterm births, which, are estimated to be about 15 million per year. If want to know more take a look to this article via STAT.