Review of Emerging Technologies in Pelvic Floor Ultrasonography

Pelvic floor dysfunction is a common morbidity with a negative impact on quality of life. These disorders include multiple clinical conditions which range from urinary and defecatory disorders to sexual disorders, affecting 24% of women. Since the pelvic floor is one of the most complex regions in the human body, in order to perform an accurate diagnosis, it is important to combine history taking, physical examination and imaging. While in the past, diagnosis of pelvic floor dysfunction was done using history taking and physical examination alone, it had been recognized the need for imaging as well. In the last decades different imaging modalities have been in use, including magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography scanning and, nowadays, the use of ultrasonography is gaining popularity. Ultrasound technology is evolving, with technology for 3D, 4D, Doppler and more, making it optimal for pelvic floor imaging. In this paper we review the different ultrasound modalities for pelvic floor imaging. The purpose of this review is to introduce the emerging ultrasound technologies for pelvic floor imaging including volume render mode, fusion imaging, framing, motion tracking and color vector mapping and elastography. The different ultrasonography modalities have resulted to be very useful for the diagnosis and assessment of pelvic floor dysfunctions, they are characterized by availability, short time, low cost, and radiation free. However, the effectiveness of the analysis is operator-dependent.