1.
Biomed Microdevices
; 18(1): 15, 2016 Feb.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26838036
ABSTRACT
We present a novel device that allows the user to measure the Young Modulus of a material at the opening of a 5 mm diameter needle. The device relies on a miniaturized cantilever spring mounted at the end of the needle and interrogated via Fabry-Pérot optical fiber interferometry. The probe is repetitively brought in and out of contact with the sample at the end of the needle by means of a steel cable that is controlled via a piezoelectric actuator located at the proximal end. We demonstrate the ability of our device to detect and quantify layers of varying stiffness during needle insertion in a gelatin phantom and to successfully locate tissue boundaries in bovine liver tissue embedded in gelatin.