Female stress urinary incontinence and the pelvic floor.

Damage to the pelvic floor muscles leads to an altered relationship of the uterus and the urethrovesical unit to the levator plate and creates conditions predisposing to pelvic relaxation associated with stress incontinence. Morphological changes of pelvic floor muscles are age dependent and associated with deterioration of the urethral closure mechanism. Urodynamic assessment and knowledge of the morphology of pelvic floor muscles improves the understanding of pelvic floor function as it relates to the support of the pelvic viscera and the urethral mechanism that maintains continence of urine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]