Study of Strain Elastography Under a Normal Tensile Testing Condition

Abstract

Optical elastography is a new imaging modality that is capable of estimating mechanical properties of a deformed object. However, the current method only provides a relative strain distribution map that may not be adequate for certain medical applications. In this investigation, biomechanical tensile testing is used to calibrate the optical elastogram to estimate the absolute Young's modulus values. This study has two features: (i) Both treated and controlled samples were examined; (ii) Optical flow and strain algorithms were used to compute motion and strain images that characterize tissue property changes during all stages of deformation (liner, plastic and post - rupture). The findings of this study demonstrate that a calibrated optical elastography is a very promising technique to quantify tissue properties in vivo.