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We compared the diagnostic value of foetal fibronectin (fFN), phosphorilated insulin-like growth factor protein binding-1 (Birth test) and insulin-like growth factor protein binding-1 (PROM test) as markers of premature rupture of membrane (PROM) and in prediction of preterm labor with intact membranes. The study population included 120 asymptomatic women (group 1), with gestation of 24-34 weeks; we also considered 21 patients with clinically confirmed PROM (group 2) and 26 patients with suspected PROM with gestation between 15 and 24 weeks (group 3) (as measured by sonography data). From our data, it seems that only the predictive value of each test is related to the characteristics of the population considered. The fFN test and the Birth test prove to be highly predictive in pregnant women without PROM, on the contrary the use of the PROM test is optimal in pregnant women with suspected PROM or with PROM, regardless of risk factor or with contractile activity.

The large use of new gynaecological technologies such as the operative laparoscopy, requires both efficacy and efficiency evaluation. The aim of this work is to compare costs of the surgical treatment of ovarian cysts between two groups of patients--35 patients undergone to laparotomic cystectomy (age: mean 27.5) and 34 operated by laparoscopic technique (age: mean 27). The analysis of the costs, related to three steps of health care (pre-operative, operative, post-operative) shows that the laparoscopic cystectomy results the more efficient intervention (L. 6,244,808 vs L. 8,310,002). This economic analysis may offer a planning tool for health care to hospital managers and represent an efficiency evaluation criterion of surgical techniques employed by the gynaecologists.