Postnatal pelvic floor muscle stiffness measured by vaginal elastometry in women with obstetric anal sphincter injury: a pilot study.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Vaginal childbirth is associated with pelvic floor muscle (PFM) damage in a third of women. The biomechanics prediction, detection and management of PFM damage remain poorly understood. We sought in this pilot study to determine whether quantifying PFM stiffness postnatally by vaginal elastometry, in women attending a perineal trauma clinic (PTC) within 6 months of obstetric anal sphincter injury, correlates with their antecedent labour characteristics, pelvic floor muscle damage, or urinary/bowel/sexual symptoms, to inform future definitive prospective studies. METHODS: In this pilot study, we measured postnatal PFM stiffness by vaginal elastometry in 54 women. A subset of participants (n = 14) underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to define any levator ani (LA) muscle defects from vaginal childbirth. We investigated the association of PFM stiffness with demographics, labour and delivery characteristics, clinical features and MRI evidence of LA damage. RESULTS: Raised maternal BMI was associated with reduced pelvic floor stiffness (r = -0.4; p < 0.01). Higher stiffness values were associated with forceps delivery for delayed second stage of labour (n = 14) vs non-forceps vaginal delivery (n = 40; 630 ± 40 N/m vs 500 ± 30 N/m; p < 0.05), and a non-significant trend towards longer duration of the second stage of labour. Women with urinary, bowel or sexual symptoms (n = 37) demonstrated higher pelvic floor stiffness values than those without (570 ± 30 N/m vs 450 ± 40 N/m; p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A history of delayed second stage of labour and forceps delivery was associated with higher PFM stiffness values in the postnatal period. Whether high pelvic muscle stiffness antenatally is a risk factor for instrumental vaginal delivery and LA avulsion is unknown.

Evaluation of bladder shape using transabdominal ultrasound: Feasibility of a novel approach for the detection of involuntary detrusor contractions.

Conventional assessment of overactive bladder syndrome uses invasive pressure-measuring catheters to detect bladder contractions (urodynamics). We hypothesised that bladder shape changes detected and measured using transabdominal ultrasound scan could provide a non-invasive and clinically useful alternative investigation of bladder contractions. This feasibility study evaluated a novel transabdominal ultrasound scan bladder shape test during conventional urodynamics and physiological bladder filling. The aim was to initially evaluate and refine a non-invasive approach for detecting and quantifying bladder shape changes associated with involuntary bladder contractions. To develop measurement techniques and characterise bladder shape changes during bladder filling, healthy female volunteers (n=20) and women with overactive bladder symptoms who had previously undergone urodynamics (n=30) completed symptom questionnaires and bladder diaries. The bladder shape test protocol included consumption of 1 l water before undergoing serial transabdominal ultrasound scan imaging of the bladder during physiological bladder filling and during episodes of urgency. In a further group of women with overactive bladder (n=22), serial transabdominal ultrasound scan images were captured during urodynamics so that shape changes occurring with bladder contractions could be characterised. In both healthy volunteers and women with overactive bladder, the transverse view of the bladder provided the most reliable plane to characterise and measure bladder shape changes. A sphericity index derived from the ratio between maximum inscribed and minimum circumscribed ellipses (πac2(inner)/πac2(outer)) offered a reliable and reproducible measurement system. Of participants undergoing transabdominal ultrasound scan during urodynamics, there were significant measurable differences in sphericity index between patients with bladder contractions (n=12) and patients with acontractile bladders (p < 0.001). Bladder shape changes detected during physiological filling and urodynamics have provided preliminary evidence to support further research into bladder shape test as a non-invasive diagnostic tool to identify involuntary bladder contractions in patients with overactive bladder syndrome.

The Role of Computed Tomography Scanning of the Thorax in the Initial Assessment of Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether lesions found on computed tomography (CT) imaging of the thorax would affect FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) 2000 risk score and/or alter clinical management. METHODS: The Sheffield Trophoblastic Disease database was searched for all new patients registered for staging/scoring investigations between January 1, 2006, and June 30, 2010. The FIGO 2000 score was noted and then recalculated using information from CT scan reports. Where a change of risk score would have affected a patient's management, the case notes were further reviewed. RESULTS: 191 patients had undergone both modalities of imaging. Using standard FIGO scoring, 169 and 22 patients were noted to be at low and high risk, respectively. Using information from CT imaging, only a further 20 patients would have been reclassified as high risk. Fifteen of these "new" high-risk patients required salvage treatment with intravenous chemotherapy; all were cured. CONCLUSIONS: With no potential advantage in terms of patient outcome and significantly increased radiation dose, there is little justification for routine CT imaging of the thorax in the initial assessment of new patients with gestational trophoblastic neoplasia.