title: Anisotropic polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel phantom for shear wave elastography in fibrous biological soft tissue: a multimodality characterization.
abstract: Shear wave elastography imaging techniques provide quantitative measurement of soft tissues elastic properties. Tendons, muscles and cerebral tissues are composed of fibers, which induce a strong anisotropic effect on the mechanical behavior. Currently, these tissues cannot be accurately represented by existing elastography phantoms. Recently, a novel approach for orthotropic hydrogel mimicking soft tissues has been developed (Millon et al 2006 J. Biomed. Mater. Res. B 305-11). The mechanical anisotropy is induced in a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) cryogel by stretching the physical crosslinks of the polymeric chains while undergoing freeze/thaw cycles. In the present study we propose an original multimodality imaging characterization of this new transverse isotropic (TI) PVA hydrogel. Multiple properties were investigated using a large variety of techniques at different scales compared with an isotropic PVA hydrogel undergoing similar imaging and rheology protocols. The anisotropic mechanical (dynamic and static) properties were studied using supersonic shear wave imaging technique, full-field optical coherence tomography (FFOCT) strain imaging and classical linear rheometry using dynamic mechanical analysis. The anisotropic optical and ultrasonic spatial coherence properties were measured by FFOCT volumetric imaging and backscatter tensor imaging, respectively. Correlation of mechanical and optical properties demonstrates the complementarity of these techniques for the study of anisotropy on a multi-scale range as well as the potential of this TI phantom as fibrous tissue-mimicking phantom for shear wave elastographic applications.
authors.affiliation: Institut Langevin, ESPCI ParisTech, PSL Research University, UMR 7587 CNRS, U979 INSERM, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chatelin
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernal
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Deffieux
authors.forename: Clément
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papadacci
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Flaud
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nahas
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boccara
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Gennisson
authors.forename: Mickael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanter
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pernot
mesh_terms: D016880:Anisotropy; D032701:Biomimetics / Q000379:methods*; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011142:Polyvinyl Alcohol / Q000737:chemistry*; D012212:Rheology
chemical_list: C062364:polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel; D011142:Polyvinyl Alcohol