Optical-Based Artificial Palpation Sensors for Lesion Characterization

Sensors

Jong-Ha Lee²  Yoon Nyun Kim¹  Jeonghun Ku² 

[1] Department of Internal Medicine, Dongsan Medical Center, Keimyung University, 1095, Dalgubeol-daero, Daegu 704-701, Korea; E-Mail:;Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Keimyung University, 1095, Dalgubeol-daero, Daegu 704-701, Korea; E-Mail:

关键词: tumor detection;    artificial palpation;    lesion characterization;    optical sensor;    tactile sensor;    young's modulus;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s130811097

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Palpation techniques are widely used in medical procedures to detect the presence of lumps or tumors in the soft breast tissues. Since these procedures are very subjective and depend on the skills of the physician, it is imperative to perform detailed a scientific study in order to develop more efficient medical sensors to measure and generate palpation parameters. In this research, we propose an optical-based, artificial palpation sensor for lesion characterization. This has been developed using a multilayer polydimethylsiloxane optical waveguide. Light was generated at the critical angle to reflect totally within the flexible and transparent waveguide. When a waveguide was compressed by an external force, its contact area would deform and cause the light to scatter. The scattered light was captured by a high-resolution camera and saved as an image format. To test the performance of the proposed system, we used a realistic tissue phantom with embedded hard inclusions. The experimental results show that the proposed sensor can detect inclusions and provide the relative value of size, depth, and Young's modulus of an inclusion.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.