Quantitative assessment of pelvic mobility in women using MRI image analysis

Pelvic mobility is essential for the role of the pelvic organs and could be important even in a physiological context. Changes in mobility are indirectly a consequence of pathology. For example, genital prolapse leads to hyper-mobility of the pelvic organs, whereas endometriosis reduces their mobility, or the development of a cyst or cancer may locally change the topology of the system and affect mobility. Measuring mobility by quantitative and objective methods and comparing it with physiological mobility can therefore help in the diagnosis of complex pathologies and identify locally defective areas or potential sites of injury or pathological tissue. New dynamic MRI analysis techniques have been developed, and it is now possible to objectively define the specific displacements of each organ individually and accurately. Quantitative full-field kinematic measurements allow a complete map of pelvic mobility in physiological context using MRI of volunteers. This provides reference values for comparing post-surgical mobilities, types of surgery, customized care or quantitative values for validating a numerical simulation.