In vivo high frequency ultrasound assessment of skin elasticity

Author

Pan, Lihong ; Zan, Leo ; Foster, F. Stuart

Author_Institution

Sunnybrook Health Sci. Centre, Toronto Univ., Ont., Canada

Volume

2

fYear

1997

fDate

5-8 Oct 1997

Firstpage

1087

Abstract

A new instrument for noninvasive assessment of skin elasticity is reported. The instrument consists of a combination of a computer controlled mechanical system which can stretch the skin with a resolution of 1 micron and a 40 MHz ultrasound biomicroscope (UBM) which images the stretching process. Stress, biomicroscopic images and radio frequency data are recorded at various levels of strain in the skin. Specifically, forearm skin from 10 subjects were analyzed to an aggregate strain of 40% in 8 steps. UBM images show a significant increase in dermal greyscale levels for increasing strain. The increase of signal strength with strain is due to the decrease of ultrasound attenuation and increase of backscatter with strain as previously reported. Strain effects on Young´s modulus in skin and stress relaxation process are also presented in detail

Keywords

Young´s modulus; backscatter; biomechanics; biomedical equipment; biomedical measurement; elasticity; mechanical variables measurement; skin; stress relaxation; ultrasonic absorption; aggregate strain; computer controlled mechanical system; dermal greyscale levels; forearm skin; in vivo high frequency ultrasound assessment; radio frequency data; signal strength; skin biomechanics; skin elasticity; stress relaxation process; stretching process; ultrasound biomicroscope; Capacitive sensors; Control systems; Elasticity; Frequency; In vivo; Instruments; Mechanical systems; Skin; Stress; Ultrasonic imaging;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Ultrasonics Symposium, 1997. Proceedings., 1997 IEEE

Conference_Location

Toronto, Ont.

ISSN

1051-0117

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4153-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ULTSYM.1997.661769

Filename

661769