Tactile Imaging Markers to Characterize Female Pelvic Floor Conditions.

Heather Van Raalte,Vladimir Egorov

doi:10.4236/ojog.2015.59073

Heather Van Raalte, Vladimir Egorov

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/ojog.2015.59073

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Abstract

The Vaginal Tactile Imager (VTI) records pressure patterns from vaginal walls under an applied tissue deformation and during pelvic floor muscle contractions. The objective of this study is to validate tactile imaging and muscle contraction parameters (markers) sensitive to the female pelvic floor conditions. Twenty-two women with normal and prolapse conditions were examined by a vaginal tactile imaging probe. We identified 9 parameters which were sensitive to prolapse conditions (p < 0.05 for one-way ANOVA and/or p < 0.05 for t-test with correlation factor r from −0.73 to −0.56). The list of parameters includes pressure, pressure gradient and dynamic pressure response during muscle contraction at identified locations. These parameters may be used for biomechanical characterization of female pelvic floor conditions to support an effective management of pelvic floor prolapse.

Highlights

Many of pelvic floor disorders, including prolapse, stress urinary incontinence, sexual dysfunction, congenital anomalies and others, are clearly manifested in the mechanical properties of pelvic organs
The objective of this study is to identify specific tactile imaging and muscle contraction markers to characterize female pelvic floor conditions
The pelvic floor conditions were categorized by prolapse staging based of maximum stage from anterior, posterior and uterine prolapse. Using this approach we found that 4 subjects had normal pelvic floor conditions, 4 with pelvic organ prolapse Stage I, 7 with Stage II, 4 with Stage 3 and 1 with Stage IV

Summary

Introduction

Many of pelvic floor disorders, including prolapse, stress urinary incontinence, sexual dysfunction, congenital anomalies and others, are clearly manifested in the mechanical properties of pelvic organs. Mapping a response to applied pressure or load within the pelvic floor opens new possibilities in biomechanical assessment and monitoring of pelvic floor conditions. When the human finger palpates soft tissue, the brain tries to estimate the pressure response versus the finger motion. While different tissue characteristics may be detectable with side-by-side palpation, the human finger. How to cite this paper: van Raalte, H. and Egorov, V. (2015) Tactile Imaging Markers to Characterize Female Pelvic Floor Conditions. Egorov cannot distinguish even substantial deviations in tissue elasticity for two locations if they are separated in time or space. We rely on visual assessments to augment palpated properties, such as the visually perceived tissue distention with Valsalva or coughing, in order to gather functional information of the vaginal tissue. The tactile imaging device, on the other hand, offers recordable and reproducible measurements for tissue evaluation [1]

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