[Analysis of alpha-amylase activity during pregnancy and labor]

Analyses were applied by the authors to 278 samples of maternal serum, 106 amniotic fluid samples, and 81 samples of umbilical vein serum, since no complex study into alpha-amylase activity in the context of pregnancy and labour had been found in the literature. Rise in amylase activity in amniotic fluid, depending on length of gestation, had been one of the points made elsewhere in a publication and was confirmed by the authors' experiments (17th to 22nd weeks of pregnancy: means = 1,8 +/- 0,8 AU/1; 37th to 41st weeks of pregnancy: means = 10,3 +/- 6,0 AU/1). Somewhat relaxed relationships between amylase activity in maternal serum, on the one hand, and age of the pregnant woman as well as activity in amniotic fluid, on the other, were found to be without any clinical relevance. Additional correlations were not detected, not even those with complications in the course of pregnancy and in labour. Global measurement of amylase activity is of no importance to obstetric diagnosis.