(Press-News.org) ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It's a mysterious condition often linked to childbirth that causes distress and discomfort and requires surgery for more than 200,000 women a year - but there's no good way to study it.
Now, researchers at the University of Michigan have developed the first-ever 3D complete computer model to help study treatment for pelvic organ prolapse, a weakening of muscles and ligaments that causes organs like the bladder to drop from their normal place. For many women, the condition causes urinary problems, painful intercourse and uncomfortable pressure.
The biomechanical model, created from a 3D MRI of a healthy 45-year-old woman, was featured in the Journal of Biomechanics. The model was used to evaluate the effects of changing individual aspects of the complex system to see how it affects the other organs; something that can't be done in women.
"What's revolutionary about using computer models is that for the first time in the OB/GYN field, biomechanics is being used to understand not only what happens during birth but how those injuries may evolve into bigger problems later in a woman's life," says senior author John O.L. DeLancey, M.D. director of Pelvic Floor Research and the Norman F. Miller Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the U-M Medical School.
"This specific biomechanical model allows us to better understand the intricacies inside the pelvic floor, such as changes in muscle strength and ligament stiffness that occur with pelvic prolapse. The hope is that this computer model will help us understand why some operations to repair prolapse fail."
DeLancey says about 15-20 percent of repair procedures for pelvic prolapse don't work but the reasons are unclear.
While animal models can be used to study organs like kidneys, the pelvic floor in humans is vastly different in four-legged animals. Authors say computer stimulation will be a key piece of improving pelvic floor research and ultimately treatment for each individual patient.
While there are as many operations for pelvic floor disorders as there are for breast cancer and twice as many as there are for prostate cancer, authors note the condition is less talked about because of its sometimes embarrassing nature.
"Pelvic prolapse has been called a hidden epidemic because it's not discussed as openly and as often as other conditions but it's more prevalent than people realize," says lead author Jiajia Luo, Ph.D., researcher with the Pelvic Floor Research Group and Biomechanics Research Laboratory at the U-M Department of Mechanical Engineering.
"Pelvic prolapse can cause great discomfort for women but we are limited in tailoring treatment. We hope that the insight gained from this sophisticated pelvic model and associated research opens the door to personalizing interventions and improving outcomes for women with this painful condition."
INFORMATION:
Additional Authors: Luyun Chen, Ph.D.; Dee Fenner, M.D.; James Ashton-Miller, Ph.D., all of U-M.
Funding: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD038665); the Office for Research on Women's Health SCOR on Sex and Gender Factors Affecting Women's Health (P50HD044406); the National Center for
Advancing Translational Sciences (2UL1TR000433 and BIRCWHK12
HD001438.)
Reference: "A multi-compartment 3-D finite element model of rectocele
and its interaction with cystocele," Journal of Biomechanics, June, 2015, dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2015.02.041i.
CLEVELAND - July 8, 2015 - A technology whose roots date to the 1800s has the potential to offer an extraordinary new advantage to modern-day medicine. In findings published this month in Nature Communications, Case Western Reserve scientists detail how stereomicroscopy can provide physicians an invaluable diagnostic tool in assessing issues within the gastrointestinal tract.
Originally used by 19th-century photographers to create the illusion of depth in their pictures, stereomicroscopy since has evolved to become a staple of the film and videogame industries. Only ...
MANHATTAN -- A new study involving a Kansas State University entomologist reveals that the genes of a fruit fly that has plagued American apple producers for more than 150 years is the result of an extremely rapid evolutionary change.
Greg Ragland, assistant professor of entomology, is co-lead author on a study involving biologists at Rice University, the University of Notre Dame and several other universities. The study looked at the processes that cause a new species to emerge, which may threaten existing, economically important crops. Scientists think that strong ...
Infectious colonies of bacteria called biofilms that develop on chronic wounds and medical devices can cause serious health problems and are tough to treat. But now scientists have found a way to package antimicrobial compounds from peppermint and cinnamon in tiny capsules that can both kill biofilms and actively promote healing. The researchers say the new material, reported in the journal ACS Nano, could be used as a topical antibacterial treatment and disinfectant.
Many bacteria clump together in sticky plaques in a way that makes them difficult to eliminate with ...
The decline of honey bees has been a major concern globally for the past decade. One of the factors that could be contributing to the decline is the use of insecticides -- specifically neonicotinoids -- that persist in rivers and streams. Researchers now report in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters that although sunlight plays an important role in degrading pollutants, its effects on neonicotinoids can diminish dramatically even in shallow water.
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Today Nicotine & Tobacco Research publishes the third in a series of studies on the cost of smoking in California, one of the first US states to implement a comprehensive tobacco control program. Researchers estimated expenditures for smoking-attributable costs (healthcare, lost productivity from illness, and lost productivity from premature mortality) for the year 2009. The total cost came to $18.1 billion, amounting to $487 per California resident and $4,603 per smoker.
In two previous studies, conducted in 1989 and 1999, the annual financial impact of smoking on California's ...
Some of the world's most popular foods and seasonings can also be the smelliest -- think garlic, onions, certain cheeses and the notoriously stinky Asian durian fruit. No amount of plastic wrap seems to contain their stench, but now scientists have developed a new film that could finally neutralize the odors of even the most pungent fare. They report their progress in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
The fetid smell of some foods makes it difficult to take them anywhere without offending others such as fellow train or bus riders. But tastes are growing ...
A microbiome code breaker. A carbon dioxide (CO2) wrangler. A bug battler. These aren't members of a new group of super heroes, but a sampling of "The Talented 12" young scientists and entrepreneurs that Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) magazine is highlighting in a special feature in the latest edition. C&EN is the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society.
"The Talented 12" includes profiles of a dozen of the best and brightest young researchers who are using chemistry to solve global problems. Among other ...
This news release is available in German.
Turbulent processes take place close to supermassive black holes, which lurk in the centres of nearly all galaxies. They swallow up matter flowing in from the outside while at the same time producing so-called gas jets which shoot out into space in two opposite directions. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich and the University of Geneva have now succeeded in localizing the origin of the high-energy gamma radiation in such a jet: it apparently originates very close to the black hole. This discovery ...
New findings about the mechanisms involved - or not involved - in the effects of the most common form of bariatric surgery suggest that combining surgery with a specific type of medication could augment the benefits of the procedure. In a report that has been published online in the journal Endocrinology, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators report that the effects of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) do not utilize neurologic pathways controlled by the serotonin 2C receptor. Since that receptor is a proven target for the FDA-approved anti-obesity drug lorcaserin, ...
SPOKANE, Wash.--Washington State University researchers have found that people can manage chronic pain and reduce their reliance on opioids through an Internet-based program that teaches non-medical alternatives like increased physical activity, thinking more positively and dealing with emotions.
Marian Wilson, an assistant professor in the College of Nursing, tracked 43 people with chronic non-cancer pain as they went through an eight-week course of online tools to manage psychological, social and health issues associated with chronic pain. Compared to a similar-sized ...
