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Examination of pelvic floor muscle elasticity in patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome using real-time tissue elastography

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Abstract

Introduction and hypothesis

The aim was to compare pelvic floor muscle (PFM) elasticity between interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) patients and healthy women using real-time tissue elastography.

Methods

The subjects were 17 IC/BPS female patients (IC/BPS group; age 34–84 years), 10 healthy middle-aged women (middle-aged group; 50–80 years), and 17 healthy young adult women (young group; 23–37 years). The target sites of elastography were the striated urethral sphincter (SUS) and adipose tissue as the reference site; muscle elasticity was calculated as the strain ratio (SR) of the SUS to the reference site. Evaluations were performed at rest and during PFM contraction. The IC/BPS group completed lower urinary tract symptom and pain questionnaires. SUS SR was compared among the three groups. SUS SR at rest and during PFM contraction was compared among the three groups with the t-test and the Wilcoxon test. Associations between questionnaire results and SUS SR were evaluated by correlation analysis.

Results

There was no significant difference in age between the IC/BPS and middle-aged groups, but the young group was significantly younger than the other groups (p < 0.001). SUS SR at rest was significantly higher in the IC/BPS group than in the middle-aged (p = 0.014) and young groups (p = 0.002). Furthermore, in the IC/BPS group, there was no significant difference in SUS SR between at rest and during PFM contraction. SUS SR was not significantly correlated with questionnaire results for lower urinary tract symptoms.

Conclusions

SUS SR at rest was significantly higher in the IC/BPS group than in the young and middle-aged groups.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

analysis of variance

BMI:

body mass index

IC/BPS:

interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome

ICPI:

Interstitial Cystitis Problem Index

MPQ:

McGill Pain Questionnaire

SF-36:

MOS 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey

ICSI:

O’Leary-Sant Interstitial Cystitis Symptom Index

PFM:

pelvic floor muscle

RTE:

real-time tissue elastography

SR:

strain ratio

SWE:

shear wave elastography

SUS:

striated urethral sphincter

VAS:

visual analog scale

2D:

two-dimensional

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all members of Department of Renal and Urogenital Surgery at Hokkaido University for advice and constructive criticism of this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Renal and Genitourinary Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan

    Yui Abe-Takahashi, Takeya Kitta, Mifuka Ouchi, Hiroki Chiba, Madoka Higuchi, Mio Togo & Nobuo Shinohara

  2. Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University of Science, Sapporo, Japan

    Yui Abe-Takahashi

  3. Department of Physical Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Tobetsu, Japan

    Mifuka Ouchi

Authors
  1. Yui Abe-Takahashi
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  2. Takeya Kitta
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  5. Madoka Higuchi
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  6. Mio Togo
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Contributions

Yui Abe-Takahashi: Data collection, management, data analysis, manuscript writing/editing.

Takeya Kitta: Protocol/project development, manuscript writing/editing.

Mifuka Ouchi: Data collection, manuscript writing/editing.

Hiroki Chiba: Manuscript writing/editing.

Madoka Higuchi: Manuscript writing/editing.

Mio Togo: Manuscript writing/editing.

Nobuo Shinohara: Protocol/project development, manuscript writing/editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takeya Kitta.

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Abe-Takahashi, Y., Kitta, T., Ouchi, M. et al. Examination of pelvic floor muscle elasticity in patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome using real-time tissue elastography. Int Urogynecol J 33, 619–626 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-021-04761-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-021-04761-7

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