Clinical research

Preliminary study of pelvic floor structural changes in early and middle pregnant women with cervical incompetence

  • Ping HE ,
  • Feixue SHAO ,
  • Lili GUO ,
  • Keting LI ,
  • Xiaoyuan MAO ,
  • Yirong BAO ,
  • Lei WANG
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  • 1.Department of Ultrasound, Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201204, China
    2.Department of Obstetrics, Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201204, China
    3.Department of Ultrasound, International Peace Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, China
GUO Lili, E-mail: yxgll1985@163.com.

Received date: 2023-03-23

  Accepted date: 2023-04-23

  Online published: 2023-04-28

Abstract

Objective ·To explore the changes of pelvic floor structure in the early and middle pregnant women with the history of cervical incompetence (CIC) by ultrasound. Methods ·The pregnant women during early and middle trimesters were collected from Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine from August 2022 to January 2023. All the pregnant women had only one history of premature delivery, abortion or induced labor in the middle trimester, and were divided into CIC group and control group according to whether having the history of CIC in the previous pregnancy. Age, body mass index (BMI), gestational age, the prevalence of funneling of internal urethral orifice and the prevalence of urinary incontinence were compared between the two groups. Two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and four-dimensional pelvic floor ultrasound was used to measure the pelvic floor structures of the women in the states of resting, pelvic floor muscle contraction (PFMC) and Valsalva maneuver (VM). The parameters of pelvic floor structure included bladder neck position, urethral inclination angle, urethral rotation angle, posterior angle of bladder, bladder neck mobility, cervix position, position of ampulla of rectum, area of urogenital hiatus (HA), hiatal transverse diameter, and hiatal anteroposterior diameter. General linear regression model was used to correct the influence of confounders and to analyze the association between the history of CIC and the different indexes of pelvic floor structure. Results ·A total of 76 pregnant women in early and middle trimesters were collected, including 39 women in the CIC group and 37 women in the control group. There was no significant difference in the age between the two groups, while BMI and gestational age in the CIC group were significantly greater than those of the control group, and the differences were significant (both P<0.05). At the states of resting and PFMC, there were no significant differences in structural parameters (all P> 0.05); at the state of VM, HA (P=0.016) and hiatal anteroposterior diameter (P=0.014) increased in the CIC group, while other parameters did not change significantly. It was found that the CIC history was associated with HA (P=0.038) and hiatal anteroposterior diameter (P=0.049) at VM after adjusting gestational age and BMI by the general linear regression model. The incidence rates of funneling of internal urethral orific in the CIC group and the control group were 10.25% and 0, respectively; the incidence rates of stress incontinence were 23.07% and 13.51%, respectively. Neither of the differences were significant (both P>0.05). Conclusion ·In the pregnant women with the history of CIC, HA and hiatal anteroposterior diameter at VM increase, and the morphological change of the levator ani hiatus is more obvious with the increase of the vertical axis.

Cite this article

Ping HE , Feixue SHAO , Lili GUO , Keting LI , Xiaoyuan MAO , Yirong BAO , Lei WANG . Preliminary study of pelvic floor structural changes in early and middle pregnant women with cervical incompetence[J]. Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Medical Science), 2023 , 43(4) : 459 -465 . DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8115.2023.04.008

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