One of the techniques used to reduce its risk is amnioinfusion. This technique involves infusing saline, via insertion of a catheter in the uterine cervix, into the amniotic cavity of women in labour who show heavy meconium. Amnioinfusion is intended to reduce the risk of MAS by diluting the meconium.
Women were eligible for this randomized trial, after the fetal membranes ruptured and thick, opaque, meconium-stained (greenish colour) amniotic fluid was identified. In this trial, amnioinfusion was not effective in reducing the risk of meconium aspiration syndrome.
"Amnioinfusion has been used in the prevention of meconium aspiration syndrome, or MAS, for the past 15 years. Prior to our study, information about the effectiveness of the intervention was based on small studies carried out in single centers," said Dr. Fraser. "Our research is the first large study that has a sufficient sample size to answer the question as to whether the technique is effective to prevent MAS. We showed that it is not effective in this context. This trial did not examine amniofusion in other contexts. Thorough, large scale studies are needed before drawing conclusions on the potential role of amnioinfusion for other indications."
Dr. Fraser worked with collaborators in Canada, France (Dr. Franois Goffinet, from INSERM Unit149 and Maternit de Port-Royal), as well as with researchers from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, Tunisia, the United Kingdom and Uruguay.
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Contact: Sophie Langlois
sophie.langlois@umontreal.ca
514-343-7704
University of Montreal
1-Sep-2005