Annals of Biomedical Engineering最新文献

{"title":"Embolic Transport in LVAD Outflow: An Experimental Study Using Patient-Specific and Idealized Aortic Models.","authors":"Hamid Mansouri, Muaz Kemerli, Robroy MacIver, Omid Amili","doi":"10.1007/s10439-026-04136-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-026-04136-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is a mechanical pump that provides circulatory support as a bridge-to-cardiac transplantation or as a destination therapy in patients with advanced heart failure. A potential adverse event of LVAD support is thrombus ingestion or formation, which may then travel through the device into the cerebral arteries, causing ischemic strokes. Previous numerical simulations of embolus transport within LVAD systems have exhibited inconsistencies in the results in assessing the fate of emboli in LVAD settings. These disparities prompted the development of an experimental framework tailored for a systematic measurement of particle transport in the context of LVADs. In this in vitro study, we utilized a nearly refractive-index-matched time-resolved particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) system to resolve and visualize particle trajectories within each aortic model, complemented by particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. We also conducted a meticulous measurement of particle weight in each individual branch by collecting the particles from each outlet. Four LVAD patients, as well as two idealized models of the human aorta, each featuring a cannula grafted at an anastomosis angle of 45 degrees, were considered. Thin-wall high-resolution phantoms of these models were 3D-printed with precision and placed in a flow loop that provided physiological flow conditions. Three different sizes of precision fluorescent beads (neutrally buoyant) with particle-to-cannula diameter ratios of <math> <mrow><msub><mi>d</mi> <mi>p</mi></msub> <mo>/</mo> <mi>D</mi></mrow> </math> = 0.031, 0.053, 0.075 were used to replicate emboli at two clinically relevant flow rates, spanning over 50 experimental cases combined. This systematic investigation reveals that particle distributions largely follow the branchwise flow split, nearly independent of the range of Stokes numbers and inlet Reynolds numbers examined. This finding partially challenges commonly held assumptions in LVAD studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147760154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Towards a Deeper Understanding of Cerebrospinal Fluid Transport in the Optic Nerve Subarachnoid Space: A Computational Approach.","authors":"Sina Sadeghi Namaghi, Mohan Kumar Gajendran, Jason A Sokol, Sara Krachmalnick, Amirfarhang Mehdizadeh","doi":"10.1007/s10439-026-04126-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-026-04126-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics within the optic nerve subarachnoid space (ONSAS) are increasingly recognised as potential factors contributing to the pathogenesis of optic neuropathies, including normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) and idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). In this study, high-resolution T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were manually segmented and processed for greyscale analysis and pixel-intensity mapping, enabling anatomically accurate three-dimensional reconstructions of the ONSAS. These reconstructions were imported into OpenFOAM software for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, incorporating physiologically realistic inlet pressure waveforms, boundary conditions, tissue porosity, and lymphatic drainage characteristics in the near optic nerve head portion of ONSAS, called the distal portion. Solver selection in OpenFOAM was optimised for the narrow geometry and unique boundary features of the ONSAS, yielding high-resolution maps of CSF flow dynamics. Multiple drainage scenarios were simulated to represent healthy, NTG, and IIH conditions. Area-averaged CSF velocities were quantified for each condition and compared with the scarce and available values reported in phase-contrast MRI (PC-MRI) studies. The results provide novel, physiologically relevant insights into CSF transport behaviour in the ONSAS under different physiological and pathophysiological conditions, with potential implications for the diagnosis, management, and treatment of optic neuropathies.</p>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147760303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multimodal Graphical Network Analysis of Small-for-Gestational-Age in Preterm Infants: Integrating Neonatal Brain Volume, Structural Connectivity, and Early Neurodevelopmental Outcome.","authors":"Se Hyun Lee, Yong Hun Jang, Hyuna Kim, Gang Yi Lee, Hyun Ju Lee, Hyun Ho Kim","doi":"10.1007/s10439-026-04127-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-026-04127-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Infants born Small-for-gestational-age (SGA) face heightened risks for cognitive and language impairments. The neurobiological mechanisms underlying these deficits remain unclear. This study aimed to identify multimodal neuroimaging biomarkers associated with fetal growth restriction and to characterize network-level associations linking SGA to early neurodevelopmental vulnerability using a data-driven graph-based framework.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this prospective cohort of 186 preterm infants, near-term brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Bayley-III developmental assessments were analyzed. Multimodal imaging features-including volumetric indices from T2-weighted MRI and diffusion metrics from diffusion tensor imaging-were integrated with perinatal data. A sparse partial-correlation network was estimated using the Graphical Lasso algorithm (λ optimized via cross-validation) to infer conditional dependencies among features. Variables directly connected to birthweight Z-scores were identified as candidate biomarkers and validated for SGA classification and developmental outcomes using logistic regression and correlation analyses.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Network analysis identified eight neuroanatomical correlates of birthweight Z-scores, including increased cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume; elevated axial, mean, and radial diffusivity in the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILFL); higher axial diffusivity in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus; and altered degree centrality in the right precentral and posterior cingulate cortices (PCC). Logistic regression revealed CSF volume and ILFL diffusivity as independent predictors of SGA. Infants with language delay showed trend-level increases in ILFL diffusivity and reduced PCC centrality after FDR correction, suggesting possible associations between microstructural and connectomic alterations and language vulnerability.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>By integrating volumetric and diffusion MRI with graph-based modeling, this study uncovers latent neurobiological markers of SGA and provides clinically interpretable biomarkers for early risk stratification and individualized intervention.</p>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147760210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantitative Assessment of Cannula Kinematics in Liposuction Surgical Procedures Using a Marker-Based Tracking System.","authors":"Yeseop Park, Youkeun K Oh","doi":"10.1007/s10439-026-04149-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-026-04149-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The aim is to develop a reliable, objective, and quantitative system for measuring and analyzing the movement of the cannula tip, which is used in liposuction.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The customized tracking system was designed using an infrared marker set and stereo vision. It was utilized to accurately track and quantify cannula tip movements during liposuction surgery. The accuracy of this system was validated by comparing its measurements to a commercial motion-tracking system. In addition, a new metric, the normalized cannula movement index (nCMI), was supposed to objectively assess cannula stroke cycles, quantify spatial distribution, and evaluate handling techniques. The developed tracking system exhibited excellent accuracy, with results differing by only approximately 0.9% from the commercial system, confirming its reliability and precision.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>This system enables quantitative comparisons of region-wise stroke distribution and stroke speed across procedures. The proposed nCMI can provide an objective, region-level descriptor of cannula handling patterns that could support comparative assessment. As a result, it can provide consistent and quantitative analysis results. Through quantitative indicators such as stroke cycle and nCMI, it is possible to effectively perform objective evaluations of the liposuction procedures and outcomes.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Consequently, this study provides a novel tool for objective assessment of surgical techniques. It could contribute to improving surgeon training, predicting postoperative complications, and optimizing the liposuction procedure.</p>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147760220","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Graph Neural Networks in Neuroimaging: Current Status and Biostatistical Considerations for Clinical Deployment.","authors":"Rahul Kumar, Kyle Sporn, Ethan Waisberg, Joshua Ong, Phani Paladugu, Tejas Sekhar, Tamer Hage, Swapna Vaja, Nicolas Nelson, Mouayad Masalkhi, Ryung Lee, Dylan Amiri, Chirag Gowda, Alex Ngo, Shreya Raj, Ram Jagadeesan, Nasif Zaman, Alireza Tavakkoli, Shashinath Chandrahasegowda, Tarikere Kumar","doi":"10.1007/s10439-026-04045-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-026-04045-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have emerged as a novel paradigm that enables scientists to model complex relational data in medical applications, offering unique advantages over traditional deep learning (DL) approaches for non-Euclidean domains. This paper provides a comprehensive review of current GNN architectures and their healthcare applications, with a focus on functional connectivity analysis, electrical-based diagnostics, and anatomical structure modeling. We analyze the strengths and limitations of spectral and spatial GNN variants, including Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs), Graph Attention Networks (GATs), and spatio-temporal extensions. Based on our critical assessment of the state-of-the-art innovations, we propose several key directions for medical researchers actively developing GNN technology: (1) Dynamic graph representation learning to capture evolving physiological processes; (2) Multi-modal fusion techniques to integrate heterogeneous biomedical data streams; (3) Uncertainty-aware GNNs for robust clinical decision support; (4) Explainable GNN architectures to enhance interpretability for healthcare practitioners; and (5) Federated GNN frameworks to enable privacy-preserving collaborative learning across institutions. We also introduce a new Temporal Multi-modal Attention Graph Neural Network (TMA-GNN) architecture designed explicitly for longitudinal patient modeling and clinical trial optimization. Our TMA-GNN incorporates multi-head attention mechanisms, temporal edge construction, and a custom loss function to encourage temporal consistency in predictions. We introduce a conceptual framework for the Temporal Multi-modal Attention Graph Neural Network (TMA-GNN), which is designed to support disease progression modeling and clinical trial optimization in neurological disorders. Although the proposed model architecture is technically detailed, this manuscript focuses on the conceptual and methodological design, rather than presenting experimental results. By addressing these proposed research directions, we envision GNNs will play an increasingly pivotal role in precision medicine, disease progression modeling, and treatment personalization.</p>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147760186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Addition of PRG4 to Optimize the Anti-Adhesive Properties of Tissue Barrier Seprafilm^®.","authors":"Ava J Marks, Khaled A Elsaid, Ling X Zhang, Timmy Lin, Janette Baird, Tannin A Schmidt, Gregory D Jay","doi":"10.1007/s10439-026-04120-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-026-04120-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Postsurgical adhesion remains a significant clinical challenge. Seprafilm^® is widely used as a barrier to reduce adhesion formation, however its efficacy may be inconsistent. Recombinant human proteoglycan-4 (rhPRG4), a surface-active, anti-inflammatory glycoprotein found in synovial fluid inhibits cell and protein adhesion. This study investigated whether coating Seprafilm with rhPRG4 could enhance its anti-adhesive potential.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Macrophages (J774), human fibroblast-like synoviocytes (HFLS), and melanoma (A375) cells were cultured on tissue culture wells treated with rhPRG4 or bovine submaxillary mucin (BSM) to determine optimal seeding density. Seprafilm sheets were coated with rhPRG4 or BSM (0.78-200 µg/mL). Cell adhesion was quantified using CellTiter-Glo^® while non-adherent macrophages were assessed for viability and re-adhesion. Migration was tested with the Oris^™ Universal Cell Migration assay and oxidative stress with MitoSOX^™ Red staining. ANOVA with multiple comparisons was used for statistical analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Seprafilm alone promoted HFLS and macrophage adhesion, whereas application of rhPRG4 significantly reduced adherence compared to both control and BSM coated surfaces. The combination of rhPRG4 with Seprafilm showed the greatest reduction in adhesion without compromising viability or re-adherence. Seprafilm alone increased macrophage migration and ROS production, while rhPRG4 coated surfaces alone or in combination with Seprafilm suppressed both.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Coating Seprafilm with rhPRG4 enhances its anti-adhesive properties by reducing adhesion, migration, and oxidative stress in vitro. These findings suggest rhPRG4 may improve the biological performance of adhesion barriers by suppressing early cellular infiltration and inflammatory activation. Anti-adhesive bioactive surface modifications may advance postsurgical adhesion prevention and wound healing.</p>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147727894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multi-phase and Multi-mode Gait Recognition with Few Channels and Few Features Based on the Fusion of sEMG and Acceleration.","authors":"Songbo Zhou, Chaoming Luo, Xinyi Ma, Yongxin Lv, Na Ta, Junfeng Gao, Zhengyi Li, Dandan Yang, Hui Zhou","doi":"10.1007/s10439-026-04142-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-026-04142-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>To address sensor redundancy and single-dimension (either phase or pattern) in gait recognition, this study proposes a few-channel multi-information fusion framework to achieve concurrent gait pattern-phase recognition, balancing recognition accuracy, system simplicity, and user comfort.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Ten healthy males performed five gait patterns (level walking, stair ascent/descent, ramp ascent/descent). Lower limb surface electromyogram (sEMG), acceleration, and plantar pressure signals were collected. Gait cycles were split into five phases using plantar pressure signals, features were extracted from intra-phase sEMG and acceleration signals, selected via Maximum Relevance Minimum Redundancy (mRMR), and classified by Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) for gait recognition.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Firstly, a study of five-class classification of gait phases for one single terrain using sensor data from one single muscle location showed that signals at the medial calf (gastrocnemius) or thigh (rectus femoris) had better classification performance with an average accuracy of 91.58%. Secondly, when the five gait phases from five different terrains were combined into a 25-class classification task, the results of fusing the two-channel signals from the calf and the two-channel signals at the thigh were analyzed separately. With fewer channels and features, the classification accuracy reached 88.5%, covering 25 classes.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Considering that lower leg amputations constitute a significant proportion of all major lower limb amputations, we suggest that the fusion of signals from the rectus femoris and semitendinosus positions as the signal sources should be selected for intelligent prosthesis control.</p>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147721567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Laboratory-Based Comparison of Ice Hockey Helmet Performance Using Sex-Representatives Headform sizes.","authors":"Roxane Le Vot, Pauline Leger, Yvan Petit, Laurie-Ann Corbin-Berrigan, Edouard Proust, Eric Wagnac","doi":"10.1007/s10439-026-04076-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-026-04076-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Concussion is a prevalent injury in contact sports such as ice hockey and is associated with long-term neurodegenerative conditions. As most studies have historically focused on men, the growing popularity of women's hockey has highlighted a significant gap in concussion research. Research involving female athletes have revealed notable differences in head impact exposure and concussion incidence. Although ice hockey helmets are designed to mitigate head injuries, current certification standards are based on male morphology, raising uncertainty about their effectiveness for female athletes.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study evaluated the performance of the CCM FitLite 90 helmet using male and female Hybrid III anthropomorphic headforms. Both headforms, helmeted and unhelmeted, were impacted at three locations (front, side, and back) across five velocities. Peak linear (PLA) and rotational (PRA) accelerations were recorded, and percentage reductions in PLA and PRA between helmeted and unhelmeted conditions were calculated. All data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) to account for repeated measures and variability across impact locations and velocities.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Significant differences were observed in PLA and PRA between headforms at the back and front locations. While velocity effects were similar across headforms at most locations, headform size significantly influenced PRA for back and frontal impacts.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings suggest that the helmet provides comparable PLA and PRA reduction for both headforms except for the back location and the PRA front location. Back location appears more sensitive to external factors such as differences in head geometry, mass distribution and moment of inertia between male and female anthropometric heads.</p>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"3D Segmentation of Multi-contrast Cardiac Magnetic Resonances With Topological Correction and Synthetic Data Augmentation.","authors":"Ricardo M Rosales, Manuel Doblaré, Esther Pueyo","doi":"10.1007/s10439-026-04115-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-026-04115-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Automatic segmentation of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) images improves the evaluation of heart structure and function, helping clinical diagnosis and the generation of in silico models. Recent advances have introduced synthetic augmentation (SA) using generative adversarial networks (GANs) and topological correction (TC) via persistent homology to enhance segmentation with convolutional neural networks (CNNs). However, their combined effectiveness remains unexplored. Here, we extend and systematically evaluate these techniques, individually and in combination, for the first time in the context of three-dimensional (3D) CMR segmentation across challenging multi-vendor, multi-center, multi-class, and multi-contrast data sets.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data involved anisotropic, topologically inconsistent cine and late gadolinium-enhanced (LGE) CMRs, and isotropic, topologically consistent ex vivo CMRs. Topological priors were defined in each data set from ground truth label (GTL) assessments, and TC was applied by retraining the baseline 3D CNN with a loss function accounting for topological discrepancies. For SA, deformed GTLs were used to generate synthetic images using trained 3D GANs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Consistent segmentation improvements were observed for the ex vivo data in both overlap with GTLs and topological precision when applying TC and SA individually and in combination. Notably, an enhanced identification of the infarction was obtained when SA and TC were used in the LGE data. Overall, SA increased the predictions overlap with GTLs, while TC reduced the topological discrepancies across all data sets.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>TC and SA demonstrate strong potential for improving 3D CMR segmentation on complex, real-world data sets, especially when topologically consistent data are available for training.</p>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Passive Mechanical Testing of Female Human Levator Ani and Superficial Perineal Muscles.","authors":"Megan R Routzong, Justin Dubik, Raffaella De Vita, Marianna Alperin, Pamela A Moalli, Steven D Abramowitch","doi":"10.1007/s10439-026-04121-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10439-026-04121-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The levator ani muscles (LAMs) and superficial perineal muscles (SPMs) are critical to pelvic organ support. While few studies have investigated the female human LAMs via ex vivo mechanical testing, even fewer have investigated the SPMs. In this study, we evaluated female human LAMs and SPMs via ex vivo uniaxial tensile testing, hypothesizing that the LA would have a distinct response compared to the SPMs. SPM-bulbocavernosus (BC), ischiocavernosus (IS), transverse perinei (TP)-and LAM samples were obtained from 8 fresh-frozen female human cadavers. LAMs and SPMs were dissected en bloc as a pelvic floor complex, stored frozen, and then individual muscle specimens were dissected from thawed complexes for mechanical testing. Extension-to-failure tests were performed at a displacement rate of 5 mm min <math><mmultiscripts><mrow></mrow> <mrow></mrow> <mrow><mo>-</mo> <mn>1</mn></mrow> </mmultiscripts> </math> , strains were measured using digital image correlation, and load-displacement and stress-strain curves (axial and transverse) were generated. The LAMs exhibited the most compliant behavior, divergent from that of the SPMs, while the IS demonstrated the stiffest response on average. Though SPMs were more similar to one another than to the LAMs, average stress-axial strain curves distinguished between individual SPMs. These results support our hypothesis that the passive mechanical behavior of the LAMs is distinct from that of the SPMs, suggesting it is inappropriate to use LAM material properties to describe SPMs. Additionally, distinction between stress-axial strain curves suggests muscle-specific mechanical properties should be considered even within the SPMs. This study provides novel data critical to improving our understanding of female human LAMs and SPMs and our ability to accurately simulate them and motivates future studies to further investigate their mechanical properties.</p>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}