Biomechanical Model of Fetal Head Moulding
I have studied this topic extensively for my PhD at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. A copy in PDF format can be downloaded here: A Biomechanical model of Fetal Head Moulding (PDF,6 MB)
This work was also published in the Journal of Biomechanics, Fetal head moulding: finite element analysis of a fetal skull subjected to uterine pressures during the first stage of labour, (PDF, 687 KB) of which you can download a reprint.
Snapshots of fetal head moulding are shown below, illustrating the change of shape of the fetal skull during the first stage of labour. Note that deformations are magnified with a factor 4. Fetal Head Moulding movie (WMV, 21 KB): If you encounter problems opening the movie, save the file to your hard drive first and open with a media player.
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| [1] Front view of undeformed fetal skull | [2] Front view of deformed fetal skull |
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| [3] Lateral view of undeformed fetal skull | [4] Lateral view of deformed fetal skull |
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| [5] Top view of undeformed fetal skull | [6] Top view of deformed fetal skull |
Author: Dr. Rudy Lapeer