In silico simulation and in vitro evaluation of an elastomeric scaffold using ultrasonic shear wave imaging

2017 International Symposium on Application of Materials Science and Energy Materials

材料科学;能源学

Yu, Jiao^1 ; Nie, Erwei^2 ; Zhu, Yanying^1 ; Hong, Yi^3

College of Science, Liaoning Shihua University, Fushun

113001, China^1

College of Information and Control Engineering, Liaoning Shihua University, Fushun

113001, China^2

College of Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington

76019, United States^3

关键词: Biodegradable elastomers;    Elasticity distributions;    Elastomeric scaffolds;    Homogeneous tissues;    Inversion algorithm;    Polycarbonate urethane;    Salt-leaching method;    Ultrasonic shear waves;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/322/2/022035/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1757-899X/322/2/022035

学科分类：材料科学（综合）

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Biodegradable elastomeric scaffolds for soft tissue repair represent a growing area of biomaterials research. Mechanical strength is one of the key factors to consider in the evaluation of candidate materials and the designs for tissue scaffolds. It is desirable to develop non-invasive evaluation methods of the mechanical property of scaffolds which would provide options for monitoring temporal mechanical property changes in situ. In this paper, we conduct in silico simulation and in vitro evaluation of an elastomeric scaffold using a novel ultrasonic shear wave imaging (USWI). The scaffold is fabricated from a biodegradable elastomer, poly(carbonate urethane) urea using salt leaching method. A numerical simulation is performed to test the robustness of the developed inversion algorithm for the elasticity map reconstruction which will be implemented in the phantom experiment. The generation and propagation of shear waves in a homogeneous tissue-mimicking medium with a circular scaffold inclusion is simulated and the elasticity map is well reconstructed. A PVA phantom experiment is performed to test the ability of USWI combined with the inversion algorithm to non-invasively characterize the mechanical property of a porous, biodegradable elastomeric scaffold. The elastic properties of the tested scaffold can be easily differentiated from the surrounding medium in the reconstructed image. The ability of the developed method to identify the edge of the scaffold and characterize the elasticity distribution is demonstrated. Preliminary results in this pilot study support the idea of applying the USWI based method for non-invasive elasticity characterization of tissue scaffolds.