Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, 701, Taiwan.
Medical Device Innovation Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, 701, Taiwan.
Med Phys. 2020 Apr;47(4):1609-1618. doi: 10.1002/mp.14061. Epub 2020 Feb 26.
Hand tendon injuries caused by various accidents are common in emergency departments. The assessment of tendon properties is crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of therapy or rehabilitation during recovery after hand injuries. Many recent studies have indicated that the shear wave velocity (SWV) of tendons is related to their stiffness. However, measurement of SWV of hand tendon is still a challenge because the small size of tendon and the limitation of existing ultrasound systems for detecting fast SWV.
We propose a high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) elastography system using an external vibrator to measure the SWV of the extensor digitorum communis (EDC) tendon. First, animal studies were performed by measuring the SWV and stress of porcine tendons using the proposed HFUS elastography and materials testing systems respectively. In the human experiment, SWVs were measured during hand extension and flexion. The applied stress from a finger during the movements was recorded synchronously by using a load cell.
The experimental results reveal that a favorable linear correction (R of 0.96) was obtained between tendon SWV and stress in animal studies. In the human (hand) EDC tendon experiments, the SWV increased with the extension and flexion of the hand. The SWV of the EDC tendon was in the range of 20 to 135 m/s as the applied force from the finger of a healthy human increased to 50% maximal voluntary contraction.
All the experimental results show that the proposed HFUS elastography system can be used to characterize the EDC tendon and has potential use for evaluating tendon stiffness during recovery after hand injures.
各种事故导致的手部肌腱损伤在急诊科很常见。评估肌腱特性对于评估手部损伤后治疗或康复过程中的疗效至关重要。许多最近的研究表明，肌腱的剪切波速度（SWV）与其刚度有关。然而，由于肌腱尺寸较小以及现有用于检测快速 SWV 的超声系统的限制，手部肌腱的 SWV 测量仍然具有挑战性。
我们提出了一种使用外部振动器的高频超声（HFUS）弹性成像系统来测量伸肌腱（EDC）的 SWV。首先，分别使用提议的 HFUS 弹性成像和材料测试系统测量猪肌腱的 SWV 和应力，进行动物研究。在人体实验中，在手部伸展和弯曲期间测量 SWV。通过使用负载细胞同步记录手指在运动期间施加的应力。
动物研究的实验结果表明，SWV 和肌腱之间存在良好的线性校正（R 为 0.96）。在人体（手部）EDC 肌腱实验中，SWV 随着手部的伸展和弯曲而增加。当健康人手指的作用力增加到最大自主收缩的 50%时，EDC 肌腱的 SWV 在 20 到 135 m/s 的范围内。
所有实验结果表明，所提出的 HFUS 弹性成像系统可用于表征 EDC 肌腱，并有可能用于评估手部损伤后恢复过程中的肌腱刚度。
