Measuring Soft Tissue Stiffness

Allen Rahrooh Pradipta Biswas

Sakura Sikander Sean Beverung
Aben Benwali
Introduction
Feasibility of the use of a novel soft tissue stiffness
meter
● Hand held stiffness meter for soft tissues.

● Mostly concerned with muscle tone, with prospects of being used with
diseases that affect it.

● Took measurements on individuals at specifically marked location on the body.

● Forearm ,trapezius, scapula, infraspinatus and deltoids.

● Forearm was measured while lifting weight

● It was shown that the greater the load that the arm the stiffer the tissue is.

● Stiffness on occluded muscle.

Feasibility of the use of a novel soft tissue stiffness
meter
Measured force on the indenter to the load lift.
 A simple indentation device for measuring
micrometer-scale tissue stiffness[2]
● combines two commercially available technologies

○ a μN-resolution tensiometric force probe and

○ a 40 nm resolution hydraulic micromanipulator

● enables rapid elasticity measurements of soft materials on a scale of hundreds

of micrometers

● validated by measuring the elasticity of well-characterized polyacrylamide gels

and verifying good agreement with both macroscopic rheometry and
nanoscopic AFM measurements

● Global stiffness of microscopic objects sample: intact mouse glomeruli

 Validation

Source:http://www.kibron.com/e-shop/langmuir-troughs/mtxs

Fig: The μm scale stiffness measurement device and its validation [2]
 Test and Result

Fig: Micrometer-scale variation of mammary gland tissue stiffness in relation to pathology [2]
 Human vs Artificial Tactile Sensing[3]
Fig. Specimen setup

Fig.1: Experimental setup setup [3]

Fig.2: Specimen setup[3]

Fig.3: Tactile sensor array [3] Fig.4: Platen forcer simulator [3]
Results: Human vs Artificial Tactile Sensing[3]

Fig. A qualitative pictorial assessment

of sensor readings [3]

Fig. Required detection pressure and indentation depth for human

Fig. Average detection forces and subjects and tactile sensor [3]
indentation depths required for lump
detection for human subjects. [3]
Conclusion
● The STSM instrument to evaluate physiological processes in soft tissue.
● Provide a valid method to distinguish difference in both muscles and soft
tissue.
● The goal to have a pen embedded with electronics and instantaneous
measurement could be conducted by an inexperienced user.
● The micrometer scale probe intermediate length allows resolution of biological
structure for both healthy tissues and variety disease states.

● Precise control of indentation rate and direction allow direct quantification.

Conclusion
● Most significant technique allows probing of surface mechanical properties.

● Measurement of stiffness no longer indent under small loads will observe

errors.

● Limitation thickness of the sample can lead to large errors in calculated

stiffness.

● Robotic tactile sensor can detect hard lump in soft tissue with lower
indentation depths and pressures than the human finger in passive palpation
task

● Larger lump produces greater force per unit of indentation in resistance to

movement thru the tissue when palpated.
References
[1] J. P. A. Arokoski, J. Surakka, T. Ojala, P. Kolari, and J. S. Jurvelin, “Feasibility of the use of a novel soft tissue
stiffness meter,” Physiol. Meas., vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 215–228, 2005.
[2] I. Levental et al., “A simple indentation device for measuring micrometer-scale tissue stiffness.,” J. Phys.
Condens. Matter, vol. 22, no. 19, p. 194120, May 2010.
[3] J. C. Gwilliam, Z. Pezzementi, E. Jantho, A. M. Okamura, and S. Hsiao, “Human vs. robotic tactile sensing:
Detecting lumps in soft tissue,” in 2010 IEEE Haptics Symposium, 2010, pp. 21–28.