A biomechanical analysis on the impact of episiotomy during childbirth

• Tipo: Artigo em Revista Científica Internacional
• Data: 2016

Autores

Oliveira, DA (Autor) Outra; Parente, MPL (Autor) FEUP; Calvo, B (Autor) Outra; mascarenhas, t (Autor) FMUP; Renato Natal Jorge (Autor) FEUP

Revista

Título: Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology

Vol. 15

Páginas: 1523-1534

ISSN: 1617-7959

Editora: Springer Nature

Indexação

ISI Web of Knowledge - 19 Citações

Scopus - 20 Citações

Outras Informações

ID Authenticus: P-00K-B8G

DOI: 10.1007/s10237-016-0781-6

Abstract (EN): Episiotomy is still a controversy issue among physicians, despite the enormous growth of clinical research. Therefore, the potential of numerical modeling of anatomical structures to simulate biomechanical processes was exploited to realize quantitatively the real effects of the episiotomy and its consequences on the pelvic floor muscle. As such, a numerical model was used composed of pelvic floor muscles, a surface delimiting the anterior region, and a fetus body. A normal vaginal delivery without and with different episiotomies was simulated with the fetus in vertex presentation and occipitoanterior position. According to our numerical results, a mediolateral episiotomy has a protective effect, reducing the stress on the muscles, and the force required to delivery successfully up to 52.2%. The intervention also has benefits on muscle injury, reducing the damage to a small zone. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using a computational modeling approach to study parturition, namely the capability to isolate and evaluate the mechanical significance of a single feature. It must, however, be taken into account that the numerical model does not assess problems that may occur as blood loss, infections and others, so it is necessary to examine whether the benefits of an intervention outweigh the risks.

Idioma: Inglês

Tipo (Avaliação Docente): Científica

Nº de páginas: 12