3D Ultrasound Strain Imaging of Puborectalis Muscle.

The female pelvic floor (PF) muscles provide support to the pelvic organs. During delivery, some of these muscles have to stretch up to three times their original length to allow passage of the baby, leading frequently to damage and consequently later-life PF dysfunction (PFD). Three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound (US) imaging can be used to image these muscles and to diagnose the damage by assessing quantitative, geometric and functional information of the muscles through strain imaging. In this study we developed 3D US strain imaging of the PF muscles and explored its application to the puborectalis muscle (PRM), which is one of the major PF muscles.