الفهرس 
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Abstract
As chorioamnionitis is associated with significant maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality so the aim of this study is to assess the role of thymus gland in the fetus measured by ultrasound in evaluating the presence or absence of intrauterine infection in cases with premature rupture of membranes as a non invasive tool for prediction of subclinical infection and comparing results with outcomes by APGAR score of the fetus and histopathology of placenta and membranes.
Identification of the thymus gland was easier in the third trimester. This is because the difference in echogenicity between the lung and the thymus gland allows easier delineation of both interfaces with progressing gestational ages. Therefore, the use of thy-box technique in identifying the thymus gland may not be needed in the third trimester and is of more value in the second trimester.
Measurement of the thymus gland in this study was conducted using the TD, perimeter and the thy-box technique. We came to the conclusion that perimeter tracing was more difficult than doing a straight line in the TD.
In this study only the TD below the 5th percentile had a positive prediction for the presence of histological infection.
All cases in this study with evidence of histological infection showed chorioamnionitis. Villitis and funisitis were always in association with chorioamnionitis. This might indicate that the origin of infection was an ascending infection.and there were a statistical significant difference between cases with PROM and controls regarding thymus anteroposterior and transverse diameters (P-value<0.001).
Laboratory findings in the present study (TLC,CRP and staff) have all shown a significant increase with increasing sites of infection, however, only staff >15.5% in the differential TLC was a significant predictor for the presence of histological infection. Another important finding for this study is the inverse relation between the staff level in the differential leucocytic count and the TD < 5th percentile. This means that the level of staff count can be used as a predictor for thymus involution < 5th percentile when the level is > 15.5% (cutoff).
The current study had shown that there was a statistical significant higher rate of positive histopathological infection of placenta 13 (65%) among patients with PROM than controls .