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Abstract
Spontaneous preterm delivery, with or without rupture of fetal membranes, accounts for nine percent of all births. The number of women presenting with signs and symptoms of preterm labor roughly doubles that amount. Preterm labor is multifactorial, it is associated with preterm rupture of membranes cervical incompetence, polyhydraminos fetal and uterine anomalies, infections, social factors, stress smoking and heavy work.
Trials of prevention of spontaneous preterm labor received great interest to prevent associated complications and allow trials to enhance fetal lung maturity. The first step in prevention of preterm labor is early identification of women at risk for preterm birth.
Several methods have been used for identification of preterm labor.
These methods include risk scoring systems, history of preterm labor assessment of cervical dilatation or incompetent cervix early in pregnancy, sonograghic assessment of cervical length and determination
of symptoms and signs of preterm labor.
Whatever the cause of threatened preterm labor, it may be necessary to administer tocolytics, particularly at the very early gestational ages (i.e.24-30 weeks of pregnancy).