Preliminary study of endoluminal two-dimensional ultrasonography to evaluate puborectalis muscle of nulliparous women

Abstract

Objective To investigate the measurement standards and clinical application of observing anatomical morphologies and contractile function of puborectalis muscle on pelvic floor parasagittal plane by endoluminal two-dimensional ultrasonography.Methods The thickness and thickening rate of puborectalis muscle of 78 young nulliparous women were measured on pelvic floor parasagittal plane at three levelsurethral level (anterior),vaginal level (central) and rectal level (posterior),both at rest and during contraction.And the thickening rates of these parts during contraction were compared with each other.Interclass correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the consistency of the datas.Results At rest,thickness of anterior part of the left was (9.23 ± 0.20)mm,and that of the right was (8.99 ± 0.20)mm.During contraction,thickness of anterior parts of bilateral puborectalis muscle were significantly thicker than that of central or posterior parts (P ＜0.05).The interclass coefficients were more than 0.93 and 0.83.Conclusions The endoluminal two-dimensional ultrasonography can be used to observe morphologies and contractile function dynamically of puborectalis on pelvic floor parasagittal plane.It is simple,reproducible and worthy of clinical promotion. Key words: Endosonography ; Pelvic floor ; Puborectalis muscle