The significance of pelvic floor support on the pelvic floor muscle functions of women with lower urinary tract symptoms

Objective: To explore the significance of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) on pelvic floor muscle (PFM) function among women with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Materials and methods: Four-dimensional ultrasound data of 577 women with LUTS were retrospectively analyzed. The bladder neck and genital hiatus were assessed during resting, coughing, and squeezing. The bladder neck location, genitohiatal size, and genitohiatal location were evaluated with bladder neck distance (BNd) and bladder neck angle (BNa), genitohiatal dimension (GHd) and genitohiatal area (GHAR), and genitohiatal angle (GHa), respectively. Results: Compared with women without POP (n = 306), women with POP (n = 271) exhibited higher rates of levator complete avulsion (6.5% vs. 40.2%, P < 0.001), shorter BNd (2.84 ± 1.56 cm vs. 2.45 ± 0.45 cm, P = 0.018), larger BNa (92 ± 15° vs. 101 ± 21°, P < 0.001), longer GHd (5.25 ± 0.72 cm vs. 5.60 ± 0.87 cm, P < 0.001), larger GHa (141 ± 10° vs. 145 ± 9°, P = 0.004), and larger GHAR (20.0 ± 4.7 cm2 vs. 24.2 ± 5.6 cm2, P < 0.001) during resting. Fewer women with POP were able to maintain stable bladder neck location (79.5% vs. 65.5%, P < 0.001), genitohiatal size (60.7% vs. 51.9%, P = 0.042), and genitohiatal location (61.6% vs. 52.8%, P = 0.044) following coughing. Fewer women with POP were capable of squeezing (77.8% vs. 58.3%, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Among women with LUTS, the presence of POP is associated with weaker resting, involuntary, and voluntary PFM functions.