International Journal of Women's Health (Aug 2022)

Application of Transperineal Pelvic Floor Ultrasound in Changes of Pelvic Floor Structure and Function Between Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Women

  • Xu Z,
  • He H,
  • Yu B,
  • Jin H,
  • Zhao Y,
  • Zhou X,
  • Huang H

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 1149 – 1159

Abstract

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Zhihua Xu, Huiliao He, Beibei Yu, Huipei Jin, Yaping Zhao, Xiuping Zhou, Hu Huang Department of Ultrasonic Diagnosis, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Hu Huang, Department of Ultrasonic Diagnosis, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, No. 109 Xueyuan West Road, Lucheng District, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, 325000, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Objective: To evaluate the changes of pelvic floor tissue structure and function between pregnant and non-pregnant women from the view of transperineal pelvic floor ultrasound.Methods: Thirty-eight cases of women with a second singleton pregnancy and thirty-two cases of women with a first singleton pregnancy underwent transperineal pelvic floor ultrasound, and their results were compared with forty-two cases of healthy non-pregnant women.Results: The differences of bladder neck descent (BND), rectal ampulla distance and levator hiatus area (LHA) among the three groups were statistically significant (P< 0.05), and the differences of BND, rectal ampulla distance, LHA between the women with a second singleton pregnancy group and non-pragnent group were statistically significant (P< 0.05). The BND, retrovesical angle at rest (RVA-R) and retrovesical angle underwent Valsalva maneuver (RVA-V) in the group of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) during pregnancy were larger than those in non-SUI group, with significant difference (P< 0.05), especially BND and RVA-V (P = 0.00).Conclusion: Transperineal pelvic floor ultrasound has a high resolution of pelvic floor structure and function changes during pregnancy, and can dynamically evaluate pelvic floor function, providing a theoretical basis for early diagnosis and prevention of female pelvic floor dysfunction (FPFD) in subsequent pregnancies.Keywords: pregnancy, pelvic floor dysfunction, ultrasound, transperineal

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