The muscle of the uterus (the myometrium) contracts during labor to deliver the baby. The functional anatomy of this tissue in a pregnant woman is not well characterized. Many studies that have been carried out are decades old. Better knowledge of this tissue is needed in order to understand the impact of modern life on childbirth.
In todays world women in their first pregnancy are of an advanced maternal age and body mass index (BMI). This is associated with complications such as dysfunctional labor and an increased risk of caesarean section; the reasons for this are unknown.
Using the Anatomy Department’s collection of uterine tissue samples of women from a range of ages and BMIs, various structures will be examined. High quality images of the samples will be obtained using a specialised microscope and analysed using certain software programmes.
This project aims to define many structural parameters of the myometrium, compare samples, determine any structural differences and investigate the clinical significance of any observed differences.
