Assessment of pelvic floor muscle contraction in stress urinary incontinent women: comparison between transabdominal ultrasound and perineometry

Introduction and hypothesis Transabdominal (TA) ultrasound and perineometry have been currently used to assess lifting aspect and squeezing action of pelvic floor muscles (PFM) function, respectively, in women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI). However, no study has directly compared these measurements. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and correlation between perineometry and TA ultrasound as measurements of different aspect of PFM function. Methods A total of 28 women with SUI participated in the study. Vaginal squeeze pressure using a perineometer and bladder base movement on TA ultrasound was measured. Scattergram was depicted to determine the correlation between variables. Intraclass correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman plot were used to assess reliability. Results Scatter diagram depicted significant correlation of TA ultrasound with vaginal squeeze pressure (r=0.72, R-2=0.52, p<0.0001). High reliability was found for measurements. Conclusion TA ultrasound measurement may be an alternative measurement to perineometry when assessing PFM function.