title: A device to measure the cross-sectional area of soft connective tissues.
abstract: A device has been designed and fabricated to measure the cross-sectional area of soft connective tissues ex vivo. It consists of two displacement transducers; one sensing tissue thickness and the other sensing width. Outputs are recorded (via an analog to digital interface) using a personal computer. Numerical integration of a thickness versus width plot computes cross-sectional area. This plot also provides a quality check of acquired data. This device has been successfully used in biomechanical studies of rabbit patellar tendons, rat medial collateral ligaments, and dissected specimens of human fascia.
authors.affiliation: Division of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53792.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vanderby
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Masters
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Bowers
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Graf
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D015203:Reproducibility of Results