| Name: | Deanna Easley |
| Title: | Graduate Student |
405 Center for Bioengineering
300 Technology Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Phone: 412-648-1943
Fax: 412-648-2001
dce14@pitt.edu
- Biomechanics
- Biomaterials
- Mechanical testing
- Pelvic floor disorders
- Pelvic organ prolapse
- Maternal birth injury
- Vaginal mesh
- Structural modeling
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Finite Element Modeling
Creation of a New Method To Determine Vaginal Axis and Spatial Position Using a 3D Anatomical Coordinate System
Maternal birth injury is defined as damage to the pelvic floor, such as tearing or fissures, incurred during childbirth. This is the greatest risk factor for the development of urogynecological disorders such as Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) later in life.1,2 Literature suggests that a 2D mid-sagittal MRI can be used to ascertain changes in the position and orientation of the vagina to reveal underlying pathologies.3 Unfortunately, this analysis is subject to tilt errors due to patient misalignment and subjectivity in defining anatomical landmarks. Thus, the aim of this study is to establish a 3D anatomical coordinate system for the female pelvis upon which the position and orientation of the centroidal axis of the vagina can be reproducibly measured. Thus far, 3D surfaces have been rendered from MRI scans of women six weeks post-partum. These 3D surfaces are created with respect to a coordinate system based on static patient anatomical landmarks as shown.
Vaginal position is then normalized by patient size, elevation, and deviation angles. As a result, the vaginal axis of multiple patients can be compared independent of misalignment and differences in patient size. We seek to illustrate that underlying pathologies can be identified based on quantitative image analysis. Further research will lead to the subsequent development of an average geometry of the female pelvis, which can serve as inputs for finite element simulations of defects leading to prolapse.
[1] DeLancey 1994 Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol [2] Mant et al.1997 Br J Obstet Gynecol. [3] Petros 2001 IUJ [4] Olsen et al. 1997 Obstet Gynecol [5] Milsom 2000 Obstet Gynecol [6] Nygaard 2002 Obstet Gynecol [7] Subak et. Al 2001 Obstet Gynecol. [8] Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
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