2020 Presentations (Communicative Events)

Patient-Specific Parametric Models of the Gravid Uterus and Cervix from 2D Ultrasound

Louwagie, Erin Marie; Over, Veronica Helen Marquez; Carlson, Lindsey; Vink, Joy-Sarah Yumiko; Hall, Timothy M.; Feltovich, Helen; Myers, Kristin M.

This is a video of our lightning talk created for the 2020 Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference (SB3C), held online June 17-20, 2020: https://archive.sb3c.org/sb3c2020/

Pregnancy, though ubiquitous, is not well understood, in part due to the difficulties surrounding studying the gravid environment. In order to better understand normal gestation processes, an automated patient-specific parametric modeling framework of the pregnant uterus and cervix based on 2D ultrasound was developed. 29 healthy pregnant patients were recruited to have 2D ultrasound images collected at 4 gestational ages in the standing and supine positions. From these images, three trained sonographers took a set of dimension measurements of the uterus and cervix to characterize their overall size and orientation. A solid model was constructed in Solidworks, and defined in a design table such that the 2D ultrasound dimension measurements could be imported and patient-specific models automatically generated. Across all cases, 86% of models automatically generated correctly. Uterine and cervical volume were determined across gestational age using the novel volume estimating abilities of the model. The uterine volume was shown to increase with gestational age, and the cervical volume showed no clear trend with gestational age. The development of these models allows for rapid creation of patient-specific solid models of pregnant anatomy, providing insight to the evolution of the uterus and cervix in normal gestation.