Patent ID: 6936476

Claim:
A method for determining a risk or identifying a condition associated with the presence of fetal fibronectin (fFN) in a cervicovaginal sample, comprising: obtaining a cervicovaginal sample and reacting it with an antibody on a lateral flow test device to produce an image on the test device indicative of the presence of fFN in the sample; moving a reader head in a reflectance reader to a position over the test device; measuring a first amount of light reflected from a surface that comprises the image; uniformly illuminating the surface with light of a first wavelength, and measuring a second amount of light reflected from the surface; uniformly illuminating the surface with light of a second wavelength, and measuring a third amount of light reflected from the surface; and repeating each of the measuring and illuminating steps at additional positions on the surface until the surface of the test device that comprises the image is scanned, thereby providing data to determine the intensity and shape of the image to indicate the presence or amount of fFN in the sample.