[Clinical use of a quadruple biochemical marker in the prediction of obstetric complications].

The objective was to evaluate the association of an abnormal second trimester prenatal biochemical screening with the subsecuent development of pregnancy complications in women carrying chromosomally normal fetuses. A prospective study of 123 pregnant patients was performed. Specimens were assayed for alpha-fetoprotein, unconjugated estriol, free alpha hCG, and total hCG. The study included the evaluation of the mean and standard desviation as well as multiple of the median. Six women (4.6%) had positive results. The frequency of pregnancy complications in this group was 33.3%, while in the group with negative screening was 11.1%. As conclusion, positive four marker screening is associated with a adverse pregnancy evolution. However the usefulness of four marker screening for to predict pregnancy complications needs more investigations.