Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2022 Jul;2022:4387-4390. doi: 10.1109/EMBC48229.2022.9870835.
Palpation has been used for centuries in medicine as a screening and diagnosis modality for a number of pathological conditions. However, this technique is subjective since palpation sensitivity depends on the skill and experience of a medical examiner. An objective approach to acquire quantitative tactile information is needed. A roller scanning type palpation sensor system consisting of an x-axis linear slider and a palpation probe for detecting lumps in a soft object such as the prostate tissue is proposed and fabricated in this study. By translating the slider and changing the palpation angle of the probe, a chrome steel ball which was the contact component indented and scanned the surface of soft silicone phantoms embedded with hard lumps. Lumps were detected by measuring reaction force waveform fluctuations. Fundamental characteristics of the proposed sensor system were validated by comparison with the ground truth load cell output and showed a strong linear correlation with r=0.9985. On silicone samples with hard lumps, the system was able to detect lumps of various sizes embedded at the depth of 5mm. From the results, the proposed sensor system holds potential for tissue characterization.
触诊在医学中已经使用了几个世纪，作为许多病理情况的筛查和诊断手段。然而，这种技术是主观的，因为触诊的灵敏度取决于医学检查者的技能和经验。需要一种获取定量触觉信息的客观方法。本研究提出并制作了一种由 x 轴线性滑台和触诊探头组成的滚压式触诊传感器系统，用于检测前列腺组织等软组织中的肿块。通过平移滑台并改变探头的触诊角度，触诊探头中的铬钢球作为接触元件压入并扫描软硅胶模型表面的硬肿块。通过测量反作用力波动来检测肿块。通过与地面真实负载单元输出进行比较，验证了所提出的传感器系统的基本特性，并表现出很强的线性相关性，r=0.9985。在具有硬肿块的硅胶样本上，该系统能够检测到嵌入深度为 5mm 的各种尺寸的肿块。结果表明，所提出的传感器系统具有组织特征化的潜力。
