Desenvolvimento de um dispositivo para medir de forma multidirecional a forca da musculatura do ossalho pelvico: um estudo piloto

Abstract

Urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapses are urogynecologic dysfunctions presenting a significant impact in women sexual function and quality of life. Surgery, medication and physiotherapy treatments are therapheutical options to deal with these affections. Moreover, thepelvic floor is directly involved in the biomechanics of these dysfunctions, and the measurement of its force is extremely important to trace the prognostic of these illnesses and to the results analyses of physiotherapic treatment. Vaginal digital palpation, perineometry, dynamometers and vaginal cones are some instruments used to assess pelvic floor strength. However, there is no gold standard instrument to measure pelvic floor strength. In this context, it appeared the necessity to project an instrument capable to measure pelvic floor strength in a multidirectional way. The aim of this project was to develop a prototype to measure pelvic floor strength with adequate morphology to vaginal canal, calibration, correlation with vaginal digital palpation and a strength profile through the vaginal canal. The project consists of a100 mm length cylindric probe with eight sensors FSR connected to four mobile bars systems in each side of the probe. The acquisition systems included, too, a data acquisition protoboard and a software to process and present the results. The new prototype presented a correlation of 0, 93 to 0, 99 between the calibration data, mean force values of 0 N a 6 N and moderate correlation with vaginal digital palpation. The measure results obtained with the new prototype; guarantee that the instrumentmeasures objectively the pelvic floor strength.