R. Maymon et al., PLACENTAL ISOFERRITIN PATTERNS DURING FIRST-TRIMESTER INTRAUTERINE GESTATION, Gynecologic and obstetric investigation, 42(4), 1996, pp. 271-273
In this study, serum placental ferritin (PLF) levels were measured amo
ng 33 pregnant women with normal, singleton, ongoing first-trimester g
estations and compared with 22 nonbleeding, missed and 14 incomplete a
bortions. Diagnoses were based on clinical, sonographic, endocrinologi
c and histopathologic criteria. At admission and before uterine evacua
tion of the pregnancy products, venous blood was collected from the gr
oups for PLF determination. The mean +/- SD serum PLF levels were 18 /- 14, 21 +/- 37, and 3.9 +/- 6.2 U/ml in normal gestations, missed an
d incomplete abortions, respectively. Significant differences in PLF l
evels were found among normal pregnancies and incomplete abortions (p
< 0.05), whereas borderline significance was found in the missed abort
ion group (p = 0.53). No correlation was found between serum beta hCG
and PLF for the various pregnancy groups. Low PLF levels in pathologic
gestation may reflect abnormal trophoblastic activity. Whether these
play a causal role or are the casual outcome of pathologic gestation s
hould be the subject of further evaluation.