Abstract
Objective: Biaxial mechanical testing is a common method for elucidation of mechanical
properties of excised ventricular myocardium, especially in the context of structural
remodeling that accompanies heart disease. Current imaging strategies in biaxial testing
are based on optical camera imaging of the tissue surface, thus providing no information
about the tissue microstructure and limiting strain measurements to two dimensions.
Here, these limitations are overcome by replacing the camera with ultrasound imaging
in order to measure both transmural fiber orientation and 3D tissue deformation during
biaxial testing. Methods: Quasi-static biaxial mechanical testing is applied to four
samples of excised porcine ventricular myocardium (two left- and two right-ventricular
tissues). During testing, a rotational scan of an ultrasound linear array provides
data for both backscatter tensor imaging and 3D speckle tracking, from which transmural
fiber orientation and tissue deformation are computed, respectively. Ultrasound-derived
fiber orientation and tissue strain are validated against histology and camera surface
imaging, respectively. Discussion: Ultrasound-derived fiber angle and tissue strain
exhibit good accuracy, with root-mean-square errors of 9.9° and 1.2% strain, respectively.
Further investigation into the optimization of backscatter tensor imaging is warranted.
Replacing the rotational scan of a linear array with volume imaging with a matrix
array will improve the technique. Conclusion: Ultrasound imaging can replace the optical
camera measurement during biaxial mechanical testing of ventricular myocardium in
order to accurately provide measurements of transmural fiber orientation and tissue
strain. In situ knowledge of transmural fiber structure and tissue deformation can
enhance the inverse problem used to determine tissue mechanical properties from biaxial
testing.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 27, 2023
Accepted:
January 14,
2023
Received in revised form:
January 10,
2023
Received:
October 13,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. All rights reserved.
