Accurate detection of 3D pelvic-floor-muscle strength for reforming clinical diagnosis and treatment of women's pelvic floor dysfunction

Accurate and comprehensive evaluation of three-dimensional (3D) pelvic-floor-muscle (PFM) strength distributions are highly expected to play a crucial role in clinical early diagnosis and physiotherapy precise treatment of womens pelvic-floor-dysfunction (PFD). However, clinically existing PFM-evaluating methods merely assess a rough and synthetical PFM strength from the whole vagina muscle tunnel, seriously restricting the development of PFD-related diagnostic methodologies and therapeutic interventions. Here, 3D complex female PFM-strength distributions have been accurately detected by developing a portable multi-channel PFM-pressure dynamic measuring system. Clinical trials demonstrate the superiority in high PFM-strength sensitivity and 3D spatial resolution, offering the opportunities to imply specific deficits in personalized PFM functions and customized interventions accordingly. Significantly, various subclinical PFM abnormalities can be identified by the 3D accurate PFM-strength distributions, which is not possible using traditional PFM-evaluating methods, providing a visual biomechanical foundation for clinical early diagnosis and physiotherapy precise treatment of PFD. Combined with the additional advance in physical comfortability, patients-friendliness universality, and stability without motion artifact achieved by the novel designed vaginal probe, this proof of concept research holds the promise for paradigm revolution in PFM pathological research, and promotes the transformation of clinical pelvic-floor medicine from empirical medicine to data-driven precision medicine.