Co-simulation of electrical and mechanical models of the uterine muscle

Abstract

Currently, one of the most studied signals to detect preterm labor is the electrohysterogram. Indeed, its components can be interpreted to quantify preterm labor risk. However, these kind of analyses do not give information about what is going on the uterine muscle itself. The literature already offers models that describe the electrical or the mechanical behavior of the uterine smooth muscle. But usually, these models are not related to each other. A model that could relate the electrical and the mechanical uterus behaviors, in order to understand the global electro-mechanical uterine activity, could be useful for preterm labor detection. It will permit to model the links existing during uterine contraction between the measurable component (the electrical activity) and the effective non measurable one (the mechanical activity). The study proposed here presents a co-simulation of three different models of the uterine smooth muscle related to its electromechanical components. The results show the feasibility to combine those three models in order to generate a global contraction on a 3D realistic uterine muscle mesh.