Journal
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE
Volume 14, Issue 129, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2017.0088
Keywords
homogenization; heterogeneity; tissue mechanics; cancer diagnosis; prostate cancer
Categories
Funding
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [EP/I019472/1, EP/I020101/1, EP/K036939/1]
- EPSRC [EP/K036939/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- MRC [MC_PC_15027] Funding Source: UKRI
- Medical Research Council [MC_PC_15027] Funding Source: researchfish
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It is well known that the changes in tissue microstructure associated with certain pathophysiological conditions can influence its mechanical properties. Quantitatively relating the tissue microstructure to the macroscopic mechanical properties could lead to significant improvements in clinical diagnosis, especially when the mechanical properties of the tissue are used as diagnostic indices such as in digital rectal examination and elastography. In this study, a novel method of imposing periodic boundary conditions in non-periodic finite-element meshes is presented. This method is used to develop quantitative relationships between tissue microstructure and its apparent mechanical properties for benign and malignant tissue at various length scales. Finally, the inter-patient variation in the tissue properties is also investigated. Results show significant changes in the statistical distribution of the mechanical properties at different length scales. More importantly the loss of the normal differentiation of glandular structure of cancerous tissue has been demonstrated to lead to changes in mechanical properties and anisotropy. The proposed methodology is not limited to a particular tissue or material and the example used could help better understand how changes in the tissue microstructure caused by pathological conditions influence the mechanical properties, ultimately leading to more sensitive and accurate diagnostic technologies.
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