title: A piezoresistive tactile sensor for tissue characterization during catheter-based cardiac surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Currently, most of mitral valve annuloplasty surgeries are performed by using open heart surgery. However, if such operation would be performed by using minimally invasive surgery via catheter-based techniques (CBT), it offers various advantages for both surgeons and patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two piezoresistive force sensors are used in the structure of the tactile sensor, which can easily be miniaturized and integrated into surgical catheters. The tactile sensor was fabricated and tested to characterize different elastomers, as the phantom of cardiac tissues. Based on a developed finite element analysis (FEA) of the elastomers, the interaction between the sensor and those materials were modelled to validate the output of the sensor.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of the mechanical and psychophysical tests confirm the capability of the proposed sensor to measure the relative hardness/softness of different soft tissues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proposed tactile sensor will help surgeons to characterize different types of cardiac tissues and would facilitate the use of CBT to perform mitral valve annuloplasty.
authors: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
authors: Masoud
authors: M
authors: Kalantari
authors: Mohammadreza
authors: M
authors: Ramezanifard
authors: Roozbeh
authors: R
authors: Ahmadi
authors: Javad
authors: J
authors: Dargahi
authors: József
authors: J
authors: Kövecses
mesh_terms: D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D055119:Elastic Modulus / Q000502:physiology; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006244:Hardness; D006245:Hardness Tests / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008365:Manometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055617:Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D010812:Physical Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation; D014110:Touch; D014159:Transducers