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Abstract
Preterm delivery (PTD) is defined as the birth of an infant at less than 37 weeks of gestation. Given the significance of this clinical problem, a large amount of time and energy has been dedicated toward prevention of preterm birth.
Preterm birth is the single largest cause of prenatal mortality and morbidity in infants without anomalies in developed nations. (Colombo and Iams, 2000), and prematurity remains a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality in developed countries, accounting for 60-80% of deaths of these infants (Goldenberg, 2002).
Due to a diverse pathogenesis and aetiology, prevention of preterm labor has had limited success. A reduction in the preterm birthrate cannot be achieved until there are effective strategies to predict risk for preterm birth as well as effective methods to prevent preterm birth. Despite the availability of aggressive treatment protocols and pharmacological interventions, preterm labor remains one of the common causes of perinatal morbidity and mortality. The main reason for low success rates of tocolytic therapy is failure to detect to detect the onset of preterm labor in patients at an early stage. Thus, it was essential to identify patients, both symptomatic or asymptomatic, early enough so that optimum treatment can be attempted along with prophylactic antibiotics (Vause and Johnston, 2000; Iams, 2002).