Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
SpringerLink
Log in

Mechanical Characterization of the Human Liver

  • Conference paper
Computer Models in Biomechanics

Abstract

The aspiration technique was used to characterize the mechanical behavior of the liver. Intra-operative application on human organs aimed at (i) tissue classification towards development of novel diagnostic procedures, and (ii) constitutive modeling of liver tissue. The first goal was achieved using scalar parameters extracted from time histories of aspiration pressure and deformation. Determination of parameters for nonlinear time dependent constitutive model formulations required solving the inverse problem. Glisson’s capsule was analyzed separately from parenchyma and was shown to behave as I 2-material. 207 aspiration measurements were performed on 33 patients. The influence of the contact force between the aspiration device and the liver was kept minimal in order to achieve a high reproducibility of the mechanical measurements. Histopathological characterization with biopsies taken at the measurement location allowed analyzing the influence of tissue microstructure. Tumors with high connective tissue content were shown to significantly affect the mechanical response.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The work described here constitutes the main contribution of the PhD Thesis of the first author, see Hollenstein (2011). For this reason, text passages, figures, and tables from Hollenstein (2011) are used in this article.

References

  • Bauer M, Mazza E, Jabareen M, Sultan L, Bajka M, Lang U, Zimmermann R, Holzapfel GA (2009) Assessment of the in vivo biomechanical properties of the human uterine cervix in pregnancy using the aspiration test: a feasibility study. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 144:S77–S81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JD, Rosen J, Kim YS, Chang L, Sinananand M, Hannaford B (2003) In-vivo and in-situ compressive properties of porcine abdominal soft tissues. In: Westwood JD, Hoffman HM, Mogel GT, Phillips R, Robb RA, Stredney D (eds) Medicine meets virtual reality 11. Studies in health technology and informatics, vol 94. IOS Press, Amsterdam, pp 26–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Bürzle W, Haller C, Ehrbar M, Mazza E (2012) Experimental investigations of fetal membrane mechanics. In: Holzapfel GA (ed) CD-ROM proceedings of the European solid mechanics conference 2012, Graz, Austria

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter FJ, Frank TG, Davies PJ, McLean D, Cuschieri A (2001) Measurement and modelling of the compliance of human and porcine organs. Med Image Anal 5:231–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chui C, Kobayashi E, Chen X, Hisada T, Sakuma I (2007) Transversely isotropic properties of porcine liver tissue: experiments and constitutive modelling. Med Biol Eng Comput 45:99–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egger J (2008) An inflation device for testing human fetal membranes. Master’s Thesis, ETH, Zurich

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao Z, Lister K, Desai JP (2010) Constitutive modeling of liver tissue: experiment and theory. Ann Biomed Eng 38:505–516

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenstein M (2011) PhD Thesis, No. 19587, ETH, Zurich

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollenstein M, Jabareen M, Breitenstein S, Riener M-O, Clavien P-A, Bajka M, Mazza E (2009) Intraoperative mechanical characterization of human liver. Proc Appl Math Mech 9:83–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenstein M, Bugnard G, Joos R, Kropf S, Villiger P, Mazza E (2011) Towards laparoscopic tissue aspiration. Med Image Anal (submitted)

    Google Scholar 

  • Huwart L, Peeters F, Sinkus R, Annet L, Salameh N, ter Beek LC, Horsmans Y, Van Beers BE (2006) Liver fibrosis: non-invasive assessment with MR elastography. NMR Biomed 19:173–179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerdok A, Ottensmeyer M, Howe R (2006) Effects of perfusion on the viscoelastic characteristics of liver. J Biomech 39:2221–2231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazza E, Nava A, Hahnloser D, Jochum W, Bajka M (2007) The mechanical response of human liver and its relation to histology: an in vivo study. Med Image Anal 11:663–672

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazza E, Grau P, Hollenstein M, Bajka M (2008) Constitutive modeling of human liver based on in vivo measurements. Med Image Comput Comput Assist Interv 11:726–733

    Google Scholar 

  • Nava A (2007) In vivo characterization of the mechanical response of soft human tissue. ETH Zurich Diss., 17060

    Google Scholar 

  • Nava A, Mazza E, Furrer M, Villiger P, Reinhart WH (2008) In vivo mechanical characterization of human liver. Med Image Anal 12:203–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ottensmeyer MP (2002) TeMPeST I-D: an instrument for measuring solid organ soft tissue properties. Exp Tech 26:48–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rouvière O, Yin M, Dresner MA, Rossman PJ, Burgart LJ, Fidler JL, Ehman RL (2006) MR elastography of the liver: preliminary results. Radiology 240:440–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin MB, Bodner SR (2002) A three-dimensional nonlinear model for dissipative response of soft tissue. Int J Solids Struct 39:5081–5099

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Samur E, Sedef M, Basdogan C, Avtan L, Duzgun O (2007) A robotic indenter for minimally invasive measurement and characterization of soft tissue response. Med Image Anal 11:361–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandrin L, Fourquet B, Hasquenoph J, Yon S, Fournier C, Mal F, Christidis C, Ziol M, Poulet B, Kazemi F, Beaugrand M, Palau R (2003) Transient elastography: a new noninvasive method for assessment of hepatic fibrosis. Ultrasound Med Biol 29:1705–1713

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz J, Denninger M, Rancourt D, Moisan C, Laurendeau D (2005) Modelling liver tissue using a visco-elastic model for surgery simulation. Med Image Anal 9:103–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tay BK, Kim J, Srinivasan MA (2006) In vivo mechanical behavior of intra-abdominal organs. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 53:2129–2138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Siebenthal M, Székely G, Lomax AJ, Cattin PC (2007) Systematic errors in respiratory gating due to intrafraction deformations of the liver. Med Phys 34:3620–3629

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng YP, Leung SF, Mak AFT (2000) Assessment of neck tissue fibrosis using an ultrasound palpation system: a feasibility study. Med Biol Eng Comput 38:497–502

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. S. Breitenstein, University Hospital Zurich, for performing the intraoperative measurements with the aspiration device. This work was partly supported by the CO-ME/NCCR research network of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mechanical Systems, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Marc Hollenstein & Edoardo Mazza

Authors
  1. Marc Hollenstein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Edoardo Mazza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edoardo Mazza .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomechanics, Center of Biomedical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Kronegasse 5-I, Graz, 8010, Austria

    Gerhard A. Holzapfel

  2. Dept. Mechanical Engineering, Dept. of Bioengineering (courtesy), Stanford University, Lomita Mall 496, Stanford, 94305-4040, California, USA

    Ellen Kuhl

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this paper

Cite this paper

Hollenstein, M., Mazza, E. (2013). Mechanical Characterization of the Human Liver. In: Holzapfel, G., Kuhl, E. (eds) Computer Models in Biomechanics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5464-5_26

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5464-5_26

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-5463-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-5464-5

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation