title: Measuring contact area, force, and pressure for bioengineering applications: using Fuji Film and TekScan systems.
abstract: The goal of this study was to compare the TekScan I-Scan Pressure Measurement System with two methods of analysis involving the Fuji Film Prescale Pressure Measuring System in estimating area, force and pressure. Fuji Film and TekScan sensors were alternately placed between a cylindrical peg and a finely ground steel base plate, and compressed with known forces. All Fuji stains were digitally scanned and analyzed. The Erase method of Fuji Film analysis consisted of manually removing portions of the image judged by the user to be outside the perimeter of the stain. The second method of Fuji Film analysis, termed the Threshold method, used the threshold tool to analyze only those pixels that were stained from loading. The TekScan system utilized special matrix-based sensors interfaced with a Windows compatible desktop computer that was equipped with specialized data acquisition hardware and analysis software. The data from this study did not support the hypothesis that all three methods would have accuracies within +/-5% of a known value, when estimating area, force and pressure. Specifically, the TekScan system was found to be more accurate than either of the Fuji Film methods when estimating area and pressure.
authors.affiliation: Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, University of Utah Orthopaedic Center, 590 Wakara Way, A0100, Salt Lake City, 84108, USA. kent.bachus@hsc.utah.edu
authors.forename: Kent N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Bachus
authors.forename: Alyssa L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: DeMarco
authors.forename: Kyle T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Judd
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Horwitz
authors.forename: Darrel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Brodke
mesh_terms: D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008365:Manometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011312:Pressure; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial