Prototype of a digital perineometer with biofeedback to measure perineal elasticity in pregnant women

• Ano de defesa: 2024
• Autor(a) principal: Picanço, Carolina Pereira [UNIFESP]
• Orientador(a): Kunkel, Maria Elizete [UNIFESP]
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• dARK ID: ark:/48912/001300001j6sk
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de São Paulo
• Palavras-chave em Português: Episiotomy; Pelvic floor; Perineal diameter
• Link de acesso: https://hdl.handle.net/11600/74255

The female pelvic floor plays a crucial role in supporting the pelvic organs during vaginal childbirth and sexual activity. Often, the changes that occur during pregnancy do not prevent injuries during vaginal birth, contributing to the manifestation of dysfunctions such as urinary incontinence and prolapse. Studies highlight the importance of pelvic floor exercises as a preventive measure, with massages, specific exercises and the use of vaginal dilators. However, there is a need to conduct additional research to validate the effectiveness of these approaches. This research aims to fill the gap by developing a digital device that is capable of providing accurate measurements of the diameter of the perineum in pregnant women. A systematic review of the literature was carried out to investigate the scientific evidence that addresses strategies aimed at preventing perineal injury during vaginal childbirth and a technological review to evaluate the positive and negative points of devices that assist in training the pelvic floor available on the market. Three prototypes were developed and subjected to bench tests comparing manual and digital measurements. The first prototype has a silicone balloon with a sensor chip inside to measure the diameter when inflated and display the values on a display. In the second, an internet connection was implemented to store the data. Bench tests have demonstrated 95% accuracy. The work has approval from the ethics committee, so clinical trials will be conducted with pregnant volunteers. Until the end of the research, the device will be evaluated to implement new features that contribute to solving the significant challenge in the field of obstetrics: the decision of whether or not to perform an episiotomy in pregnant women.