A semi-automated method for unbiased alveolar morphometry: Validation in a bronchopulmonary dysplasia model.

Reproducible and unbiased methods to quantify alveolar structure are important for research on many lung diseases. However, manually estimating alveolar structure through stereology is time consuming and inter-observer variability is high. The objective of this work was to develop and validate a fast, reproducible and accurate (semi-)automatic alternative.

Ultrasound visualization of sacrocolpopexy polyvinylidene fluoride meshes containing paramagnetic Fe particles compared with polypropylene mesh.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Paramagnetic Fe particles can be added during synthetic mesh production to allow visibility on magnetic resonance imaging. Our aim was to evaluate whether transperineal ultrasound (TPUS) allows visualization, measurement, and characterization of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF mesh) containing Fe particles compared with regular polypropylene (PP) meshes used for sacrocolpopexy.

Methods: Women up to 1.

Short term post-operative morphing of sacrocolpopexy mesh measured by magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: Sacrocolpopexy (SC) involves suspension of the vaginal vault or cervix to the sacrum using a mesh. Following insertion, the meshes have been observed to have undergone dimensional changes.

Objective: To quantify dimensional changes of meshes following implantation and characterize their morphology in-vivo.

Automatic segmentation method of pelvic floor levator hiatus in ultrasound using a self-normalizing neural network.

Segmentation of the levator hiatus in ultrasound allows the extraction of biometrics, which are of importance for pelvic floor disorder assessment. We present a fully automatic method using a convolutional neural network (CNN) to outline the levator hiatus in a two-dimensional image extracted from a three-dimensional ultrasound volume. In particular, our method uses a recently developed scaled exponential linear unit (SELU) as a nonlinear self-normalizing activation function, which for the first time has been applied in medical imaging with CNN.

In vivo documentation of shape and position changes of MRI-visible mesh placed in rectovaginal septum.

Background And Objective: Large deformations in synthetic meshes used in pelvic organ prolapse surgery may lead to suboptimal support for the underlying tissue, graft-related complications as well as recurrence. Our aim was to quantify in vivo longitudinal changes in mesh shape and geometry in a large animal model. We compare two commonly used mesh shapes, armed and flat, that are differently affixed.

Transvaginal Mesh Insertion in the Ovine Model.

This protocol describes mesh insertion into the rectovaginal septum in sheep using a single vaginal incision technique, with and without the trocar-guided insertion of anchoring arms. Parous sheep underwent the dissection of the rectovaginal septum, followed by the insertion of an implant with or without four anchoring arms, both designed to fit the ovine anatomy. The anchoring arms were put in place using a trocar and an "outside-in" technique.

In vivo evidence of significant levator ani muscle stretch on MR images of a live childbirth.

Objective: Vaginal childbirth is believed to be a significant risk factor for the development of pelvic floor dysfunction later in life. Previous studies have explored the use of medical imaging and simulations of childbirth to determine the stretch in the levator ani muscle. A report in 2012 has recorded magnetic resonance images of a live childbirth of a 24 year old woman giving birth vaginally for the second time, using a 1.

Cell-based secondary prevention of childbirth-induced pelvic floor trauma.

With advancing population age, pelvic-floor dysfunction (PFD) will affect an increasing number of women. Many of these women wish to maintain active lifestyles, indicating an urgent need for effective strategies to treat or, preferably, prevent the occurrence of PFD. Childbirth and pregnancy have both long been recognized as crucial contributing factors in the pathophysiology of PFD.

Comparative Anatomy of the Ovine and Female Pelvis.

Background: Pelvic organ prolapse affects half of vaginally parous women. Several animal models are used to study its pathophysiology and treatment. Sheep are interesting because they develop spontaneously prolapse with similar risk factors as women and can be used for vaginal surgery.

Evaluating fetal head dimension changes during labor using open magnetic resonance imaging.

Aim: Fetal skull molding is important for the adaptation of the head to the birth canal during vaginal delivery. Importantly, the fetal head must rotate around the maternal symphysis pubis. The goals of this analysis were to observe a human birth in real-time using an open magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner and describe the fetal head configuration during expulsion.

Immediate postoperative changes in synthetic meshes - In vivo measurements.

Background And Objective: Immediate post-operative structural changes in implanted synthetic meshes are believed to contribute to graft related complications. Our aim was to observe in vivo dimensional changes at the pore level.

Method: Two different polyvinylidine fluoride (PVDF) meshes, CICAT and ENDOLAP (Dynamesh, FEG Textiltechnik) were implanted in 18 female Sprague Dawley (n=9/group).

Three-dimensional analysis of implanted magnetic-resonance-visible meshes.

Objective: Our primary objective was to develop relevant algorithms for quantification of mesh position and 3D shape in magnetic resonance (MR) images.

Methods: In this proof-of-principle study, one patient with severe anterior vaginal wall prolapse was implanted with an MR-visible mesh. High-resolution MR images of the pelvis were acquired 6 weeks and 8 months postsurgery.

Mesh contraction: in vivo documentation of changes in apparent surface area utilizing meshes visible on magnetic resonance imaging in the rabbit abdominal wall model.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Our aim was to analyze the apparent contraction of meshes in vivo after abdominal wall reconstruction and evaluate histological and biomechanical properties after explantation.

Methods: Nine New Zealand female rabbits underwent repair of two full-thickness 25 × 30-mm midline defects in the upper and lower parts of the abdomen. These were primarily overlaid by 35 × 40-mm implants of a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) DynaMesh (n = 6) or polypropylene meshes Ultrapro (n = 6) and Marlex (n = 6).

Methods for determining agent concentration profiles in agarose gel during convection-enhanced delivery.

Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) is a promising technique to deliver large molecular weight drugs to the human brain for treatment of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or brain tumors. Researchers have used agarose gels to study mechanisms of agent transport in soft tissues like brain due to its similar mechanical and transport properties. However, inexpensive quantitative techniques to precisely measure achieved agent distribution in agarose gel phantoms during CED are missing.