Question

function of foetal membrane

Answer 1

The fetal membrane is a thin tissue that surrounds the fetus during gestation, and is critical for maintaining a pregnancy to delivery [1]. In order for successful delivery to occur, normal rupture of the membrane (ROM) takes place at term. Occasionally, ROM occurs before the onset of labour, known as premature rupture of the membrane (PROM), which is not considered to be pathological as it is usually followed by contractions [2, 3]. However, approximately 3% of pregnancies are affected by rupture earlier than 37 weeks gestational age, known as preterm premature rupture of the fetal membrane (PPROM) [3]. PPROM is the cause of one third of all premature births [4], and is associated with increasingly high risk of mortality and morbidity with earlier gestational age [3]. The two most common associated circumstances of PPROM are inflammation or infection of the membrane, and bleeding of the uterine lining (decidua) [5]. Wh