What is a FFN?

amcam24

TIA!

SouthSeasBride

Ha, I've been wondering the same thing!

LaurenVal

Its a swab like a pap smear.. If its positive it means you may deliver in the next 2 weeks.. If its negative, you most likely will not.. My dr wouldnt do one on me because he said they are not all that accurate.

AlishaMay

My doc discussed this with me at my last appointment.  It stands for Fetal Fibronectin.  The way it was explained to me is that FFN is like a glue that holds the fetal sac to the uterine lining.  The test is done by swabbing your vagina and if FFN is present it can tell your doc that you are likely to deliver in the next two weeks. 

My office doesn't start these until 24 weeks, and they did say that a negative result tells them a lot more than a positive result.  In their words, a positive result can mean many things, only one of which is PTL, but it gives them something to go on when treating PTL symptoms.  Starting at 24 weeks I'll have this test with each bi-weekly visit.

AlishaMay

P.S. I found a site that has a pretty good explaination of it.

https://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1149.asp#head1