Abstract
Objective
To explore the feasibility of three-dimensional (3D) transperineal ultrasound on the observation of paravaginal support in nulliparous and postpartum women.
Methods
Volume datasets were acquired in 50 nulliparous and 100 postpartum women using 3D transperineal ultrasound. Paravaginal supports were observed by studying the vaginal cross-sectional morphology. The extent of paravaginal support in specific level were evaluated by counting out at a 2 mm interval in tomographic ultrasound imaging mode in all subjects. The Mann–Whitney U test were applied to establish comparisons between the two groups.
Results
Three representative manifestations of vaginal cross-sectional morphology corresponding to different paravaginal support were presented from the dorsal side to the caudal side, both in nulliparous women and postpartum women. The extent of paravaginal support in middle vagina was 11 slices (range 9–12) in nulliparous women and 7 slices (range 4–10) in postpartum women (P < 0.05).
Conclusion
This pilot study confirmed that it was feasible to indirectly study paravaginal support by observing the vaginal cross-sectional morphology using 3D transperineal ultrasound.
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Acknowledgements
National Science Foundation of China is acknowledged for providing financial support to this work (No. 81571699).
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CD: project development, manuscript writing, data collection. QL: project development, data collection, manuscript writing. TY: conceptualization, funding acquisition. WS: data collection. YY: methodology. YL: data analysis. XW: data analysis.
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This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital. All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.
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We declare that there are no conflict of interest.
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Dou, C., Li, Q., Ying, T. et al. Value of transperineal ultrasound on the observation of paravaginal support. Arch Gynecol Obstet 297, 943–949 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-018-4659-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-018-4659-y