Biomechanical properties of vaginal tissue: preliminary results

The aim of this study is to characterise the biomechanical properties of vaginal tissue to develop an accurate cure of pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Prolapsed vaginal tissues were extracted during the prolapse cure of five patients (POP) and on five cadavers without noticed pelvic floor dysfunction (non-pelvic organ prolapse) with agreement of the ethics committee. Uni-axial tension was performed, and the results were analysed. Individual reproducibility of experimental results was good, and the results highlight the non-linear relationship between stress (force per unit of surface) and strain (l-l(0)/l(0)) and very large deformation before rupture appearance. This experimental study has proven for the first time that the mechanical behaviour of vaginal tissue has to be defined as hyperelastic with a large deformation. This response has to be taken into account to develop accurate synthetic prostheses for POP cure and in the numerical simulation of the pelvic floor.