Department of Engineering Physics, Electronics and Mechanics, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Gokiso-cho, Showa-ku, Japan.
Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2010 Jul;5(4):359-67. doi: 10.1007/s11548-010-0426-7. Epub 2010 Apr 24.
Tactile sensing techniques may distinguish tumor from healthy tissue and have potential for intraoperative brain tumor diagnosis. The aim of this study is to develop a biocompatible real-time sensing system to measure tactile information such as softness and smoothness, and its application to brain tumor diagnosis.
An active tactile sensor is developed using balloon expansion. This compact system provides instantaneous tactile information and has potential for brain tumor diagnosis. Measurements are obtained on soft samples with different stiffness and surface condition with testing of boundary condition influence on thickness and area of the object. Then, measurements on white matter and gray matter of porcine ex vivo brain are done as the first step for brain tumor diagnosis.
The sensor can discriminate samples with different stiffness and surface condition subject to influence by boundary conditions. The sensor can evaluate an object relatively under the same boundary conditions but requires enough thickness and area to evaluate absolutely. Measurements on brain show that the sensor can discriminate between white matter and gray matter.
Although the sensor has problems on absolute evaluation, results show that the sensor can evaluate tactile information, and it has potential for brain tumor diagnosis.
触觉传感技术可以区分肿瘤和健康组织，并且有可能用于术中脑肿瘤的诊断。本研究的目的是开发一种生物兼容的实时传感系统，以测量触觉信息，如柔软度和平滑度，并将其应用于脑肿瘤的诊断。
使用气球膨胀开发了一种主动触觉传感器。该紧凑系统提供即时触觉信息，并且有可能用于脑肿瘤的诊断。在不同硬度和表面条件的软样本上进行测量，并测试边界条件对物体厚度和面积的影响。然后，对猪离体脑的白质和灰质进行测量，作为脑肿瘤诊断的第一步。
传感器可以区分具有不同硬度和表面条件的样本，但受到边界条件的影响。传感器可以在相同的边界条件下相对评估物体，但需要足够的厚度和面积来进行绝对评估。对大脑的测量表明，该传感器可以区分白质和灰质。
尽管传感器在绝对评估方面存在问题，但结果表明该传感器可以评估触觉信息，并且具有用于脑肿瘤诊断的潜力。
