Journal club roundtable
Discussion: ‘A predictor of fetal lung growth’ by Quintero et al

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2011.10.006Get rights and content

In the roundtable that follows, clinicians discuss a study published in this issue of the Journal in light of its methodology, relevance to practice, and implications for future research. Article discussed:

Quintero RA, Quintero LF, Chmait R, et al. The quantitative lung index (QLI): a gestational age–independent sonographic predictor of fetal lung growth. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2011;205:544.e1-8.

Section snippets

Discussion Questions

  • Is this an important question?

  • What methods were used in this study?

  • Should we use quantitative lung index (QLI) in practice?

  • Can the QLI be used with magnetic resonance imaging?

Study Design

Macones: Welcome to another installment of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Journal Club. Today we will be discussing a new sonographic predictor of fetal lung growth. Is this an important question?

Odibo: It is absolutely a critically important question. As the authors point out in their introduction, trying to assess lung growth is esssential in cases of fetal CDH. The prognostic measure most commonly used is the LHR. This measure has recently come into question, and I think

Conclusions

Macones: That sounds very interesting. What do you think this means in practice?

Stamilio: I think the first point is that LHR seems to be gestational-age dependent, which means that using a set cut-point for patient counseling is probably not a great idea. Second, this does have some implications for how we should interpret prior research and clinical trials that have used a set LHR for entry.

Macones: It certainly does raise the question of whether some of the fetoscopic studies may have had

References (0)

Cited by (0)

View full text