title: A new method to quantify male pelvic floor displacement from 2D transperineal ultrasound images.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a method to quantify displacement of pelvic structures during contraction of the pelvic floor muscles from transperineal ultrasound images in men and investigate the reliability of the method between days.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten healthy male volunteers (aged 28-41 years) attended 2 separate data collection sessions. Ultrasound images were recorded during voluntary pelvic floor muscle contractions in cine-loop (video) format with the transducer aligned in the midsagittal plane on the perineum. Five anatomic points were defined to represent contraction from striated urethral sphincter (SUS), levator ani (LA), and bulbocavernosus (BC) muscles. Displacement of each point was calculated between the relaxed and contracted-state images. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values were calculated from displacement data to assess reliability of the method between days.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Displacements of the 5 anatomic points closely matched predictions based on anatomic considerations of the male pelvic musculature. ICC values for displacement data calculated from 1, 2, and 3 repetitions ranged between 0.82 and 0.95 for ICC (2,1), 0.85 and 0.97 for ICC (2,2), and 0.86 and 0.97 for ICC (2,3), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The new method reliably calculates displacements of points previously validated for women (ano-rectal junction and bladder base) in addition to new measures of muscle actions (SUS and BC) specific to men. Future use might include assessment of clinical populations to understand how these displacements relate to symptoms of incontinence.
authors: University of Queensland, Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Spinal Pain, Injury and Health, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Brisbane, Australia.
authors: Ryan E
authors: RE
authors: Stafford
authors: James A
authors: JA
authors: Ashton-Miller
authors: Christos E
authors: CE
authors: Constantinou
authors: Paul W
authors: PW
authors: Hodges
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003950:Diagnostic Techniques, Urological; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D017773:Pelvic Floor / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D010502:Perineum; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods