title: Evaluation of clinical utility of BTC-2000 for measuring soft tissue fibrosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate whether mechanical tissue parameters, specifically laxity (in millimeters) and energy absorption (millimeters of mercury multiplied by millimeters) as measured by the BTC-2000, could discriminate levels of fibrosis severity among patients treated for extremity soft tissue sarcoma by surgery alone; preoperative radiotherapy (RT) and surgery; and surgery followed by postoperative RT.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 41 patients were treated for extremity soft tissue sarcoma by surgery alone (n = 11); preoperative RT (50 Gy in 2-Gy daily fractions) and surgery (n = 15); and surgery followed by postoperative RT (66 Gy in 2-Gy daily fractions; n = 15). Serial fibrosis measurements were evaluated at equal intervals from the midpoint of the surgical incision along the length of the incision. On the basis of the average of these measurements, differences among the three groups were analyzed using analysis of variance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pair-wise statistically significant differences were found among the three treatment groups for both laxity and energy absorption as determined by the average of all measurements. The treatment difference remained statistically significant even after adjusting for differences based on the untreated contralateral limb and anatomic site (p <0.001 and p = 0.002 for laxity and energy absorption, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The biomechanical tissue parameters of laxity and energy absorption discriminated fibrosis severity in patients treated with different RT doses. The BTC-2000 may provide a useful quantitative measure of soft tissue fibrosis.
authors.affiliation: Research Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, 550 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2A2, Canada. davis.aileen@torontorehab.on.ca
authors.forename: Aileen M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gerrand
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Jay S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Wunder
authors.forename: Adesegun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abudu
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004548:Elasticity; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery