A Simulation Analysis of Maternal Pelvic Floor Muscle

Rongrong Xuan, Mingshuwen Yang, Yajie Gao, Shuaijun Ren, Jialin Li, Zhenglun Yang, Yang Song, Xu-Hao Huang, Ee-Chon Teo, Jue Zhu and Yaodong Gu
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Rongrong Xuan: The Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Ningbo University, Ningbo 315020, China
Mingshuwen Yang: Key Laboratory of Impact and Safety Engineering (Ningbo University), Ministry of Education, Ningbo 315010, China
Yajie Gao: School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Shuaijun Ren: School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Jialin Li: School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Zhenglun Yang: School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Yang Song: Doctoral School on Safety and Security Sciences, Obuda University, 1034 Budapest, Hungary
Xu-Hao Huang: Key Laboratory of Impact and Safety Engineering (Ningbo University), Ministry of Education, Ningbo 315010, China
Ee-Chon Teo: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore
Jue Zhu: Key Laboratory of Impact and Safety Engineering (Ningbo University), Ministry of Education, Ningbo 315010, China
Yaodong Gu: Faculty of Sports Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-14

Abstract: Pelvic floor disorder (PFD) is a common disease affecting the quality of life of middle-aged and elderly women. Pelvic floor muscle (PFM) damage is related to delivery mode, fetal size, and parity. Spontaneous vaginal delivery causes especially great damage to PFM. The purpose of this study was to summarize the characteristics of PFM action during the second stage of labor by collecting female pelvic MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) data and, further, to try to investigate the potential pathogenetic mechanism of PFD. A three-dimensional model was established to study the influence factors and characteristics of PFM strength. In the second stage of labor, the mechanical responses, possible damage, and the key parts of postpartum lesions of PFM due to the different fetal biparietal diameter (BPD) sizes were analyzed by finite element simulations. The research results showed that the peak stress and strain of PFM appeared at one-half of the delivery period and at the attachment point of the pubococcygeus to the skeleton. In addition, during the simulation process, the pubococcygeus was stretched by about 1.2 times and the levator ani muscle was stretched by more than two-fold. There was also greater stress and strain in the middle area of the levator ani muscle and pubococcygeus. According to the statistics, either being too young or in old maternal age will increase the probability of postpartum PFM injury. During delivery, the entire PFM underwent the huge deformation, in which the levator ani muscle and the pubococcygeus were seriously stretched and the attachment point between the pubococcygeus and the skeleton were the places with the highest probability of postpartum lesions.

Keywords: pelvic floor disorders; MRI; finite element analysis; delivery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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