[Comparison between lecithin-sphingomyelin-ratio and surface tension of amniotic fluid with regard to the prediction of fetal lung maturity (author's transl)].

Report on 127 children, who were born within 72 hours after determination of fetal lung maturity by means of measuring the surface tension of amniotic fluid with the Wilhelmy balance and analysis of the L/S-ratio. The predictive accuracy of the physical method was 91.3%, of the chemical method 92.1% and of both methods combined 96.8%. The correlation of the two methods by mean of a correlation-ellipse was high significant. However, by comparing the values obtained after different duration of gestation it was shown that the L/S-ratio predicted a mature child on the average one week earlier than the surface tension.