Introduction and aim of the study: The biomechanical assessment of the pelvic floor tissues is important to understand the pelvic disorders - urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse - and also to improve clinical outcomes, as well as the decreased elasticity of the tissues often causes inability to maintain the normal positions of the pelvic organs [
1
, 2
]. These disorders may result from inadequate biomechanical properties of the supportive structures such as muscles, ligaments or pelvic fascia associated with hormonal changes, vaginal delivery, aging, among others [[3]
].The aim of the present work is to present distinct values of the elasticity of the pelvic floor from women with pathological disorders and also from asymptomatic women.
Materials and methods: To determine biomechanical properties of the PFM with incontinence and prolapse, and without pathologies was used a non-invasive methodology through of computational models coupled with information acquired by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
Results: The estimation of the in vivo biomechanical properties evidenced a significant difference between the different groups of women. When comparing the incontinent women with prolapsed women, the difference in the properties was approximately 54%.
Interpretation of results: The results show that the PFM of incontinent women have an elasticity 38% lower than women without pathology and there were no morphological differences between the two groups, while for the women with prolapse was 43% higher.
Conclusions: The computational models can represent mechanical phenomena such as the Valsalva maneuver and they seem to be a promising possibility to determine the in vivo biomechanical properties of the PFM, leading to a relationship between for the incontinent women and women with prolapse, which may contribute to the clinic.
References
- Subject specific finite elasticity simulations of the pelvic floor.J Biomech. 2008; 41: 3060-3065
- Pelvic Floor Disfunction: A Multidisciplinary Approach.Springer, 2006
- Tissue mechanics, animal models, and pelvic organ prolapse: a review.Eur J Obstetr Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2009; 144: S146-S158
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© 2017 Published by Elsevier Inc.
