Abdominal wall muscle elasticity and abdomen local stiffness on healthy volunteers during various physiological activities.

The performance of hernia treatment could benefit from more extensive knowledge of the mechanical behavior of the abdominal wall in a healthy state. To supply this knowledge, the antero-lateral abdominal wall was characterized in vivo on 11 healthy volunteers during 4 activities: rest, pullback loading, abdominal breathing and the "Valsalva maneuver". The elasticity of the abdominal muscles (rectus abdominis, obliquus externus, obliquus internus and transversus abdominis) was assessed using ultrasound shear wave elastography. In addition, the abdomen was subjected to a low external load at three locations: on the midline (linea alba), on the rectus abdominis region and on lateral muscles region in order to evaluate the local stiffness of the abdomen, at rest and during "Valsalva maneuver". The results showed that the "Valsalva maneuver" leads to a statistically significant increase of the muscle shear modulus compared to the other activities. This study also showed that the local stiffness of the abdomen was related to the activity. At rest, a significant difference has been observed between the anterior (0.5N/mm) and the lateral abdomen locations (1N/mm). Then, during the Valsalva maneuver, the local stiffness values were similar for all locations (ranging from 1.6 to 2.2N/mm). This work focuses on the in vivo characterization of the mechanical response of the human abdominal wall and abdomen during several activities. In the future, this protocol could be helpful for investigation on herniated patients.

Observation of the internal response of the kidney during compressive loading using ultrafast ultrasonography.

A protocol based on ultrafast ultrasonography was developed to study the internal response of isolated perfused human (n=3) and porcine (n=11) kidneys subjected to loading at 0.003 m/s and 0.3m/s respectively. Regional uniaxial strains were calculated based on natural target tracking. The effect of loading speed and regional differences could be statistically detected on the porcine specimens. However, despite the inhomogeneity of their anatomical structures, strains' responses appeared relatively homogeneous at 0.3m/s in both porcine and human kidneys. Failure, identified as a sudden change on the ultrasonography movie, also appeared at similar compression levels for both species (38.3% of applied strain in average for human and 35.8% of applied strain in average for porcine).

Effects of pressure on the shear modulus, mass and thickness of the perfused porcine kidney.

Eleven fresh ex vivo porcine kidneys were perfused in the artery, vein and ureter with degassed Dulbecco׳s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM). The effect of perfusion pressure was evaluated using ten different pressures combinations. The shear modulus of the tissues was estimated during perfusion using shear wave elastography. The organ weight change was measured by a digital scale and cameras were used to follow the changes of the dimensions after each pressure combination. The effect of perfusion on the weight and the thickness was non-reversible, whereas the effect on the shear modulus was reversible. Pressure was found to increase the average shear modulus in the cortex by as much as 73%. A pressure of 80 mmHg was needed to observe tissues shear modulus in the same range as in vivo tests (Gcortex=9.1 kPa, Gmedulla=8.5 kPa ex vivo versus Gcortex=9.1 kPa, Gmedulla=8.7 kPa in vivo in Gennisson et al., 2012).

Mechanical response of human abdominal walls ex vivo: Effect of an incisional hernia and a mesh repair.

The design of meshes for the treatment of incisional hernias could benefit from better knowledge of the mechanical response of the abdominal wall and how this response is affected by the implant. The aim of this study was to characterise the mechanical behaviour of the human abdominal wall. Abdominal walls were tested ex vivo in three states: intact, after creation of a defect simulating an incisional hernia, and after reparation with a mesh implanted intraperitonally. For each state, the abdominal wall was subjected to air pressure loading. Local strain fields were determined using digital image correlation techniques. The strain fields on the internal and external surfaces of the abdominal wall exhibited different patterns. The strain patterns on the internal surface appeared to be related to the underlying anatomy of the abdominal wall. Higher strains were observed along the linea alba than along the perpendicular direction. Under pressure loading, the created incision increased the strain of the abdominal wall compared to the intact state in 5 cases of a total 6. In addition, the mesh repair decreased the strains of the abdominal wall compared to the incised state in 4 cases of 6. These results suggest that the intraperitoneal mesh restores at least partially the mechanical behaviour of the wall and provides quantification of the effects on the strains in various regions.

Contribution of the skin, rectus abdominis and their sheaths to the structural response of the abdominal wall ex vivo.

A better understanding of the abdominal wall biomechanics could help designing new treatments for incisional hernia. In the current study, an experimental protocol was developed to evaluate the contributions of the abdominal wall components to the structural response of the anterior part of the abdominal wall. The specimens underwent 3 dissections (removal of (1) skin and subcutaneous fat, (2) anterior rectus sheath, (3) rectus abdominis muscles). After each dissection, they were subjected to air pressure up to 3 kPa. Ultrasound images and associated elastographic maps were collected at 0, 2 and 3 kPa in the intact state and strains on the internal surface were calculated using stereo-correlation in all states. Strains on the rectus abdominis and linea alba were analyzed. After the dissection of the anterior sheath of the rectus abdominis, longitudinal strain was found significantly different on the linea alba (5% at 3 kPa) and on the rectus abdominis area (11% at 3 kPa). The current results highlight the importance of the rectus sheath in the structural response of the anterior part of the abdominal wall ex vivo. Geometrical characteristics such as thicknesses and radii of curvature and mechanical properties (shear modulus of the rectus abdominis, e.g. at 0 pressure the average value is 14 kPa) were provided in order to facilitate future modeling efforts.

Effects of storage temperature on the mechanical properties of porcine kidney estimated using shear wave elastography.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different conservation techniques on the mechanical properties of the ex vivo porcine kidney in order to select an appropriate conservation protocol to use prior to mechanical testing. Five groups of eight kidneys each were subjected to different methods of conservation: storage at 4°C, -18°C, -34°C and -71°C, for 7 days, or storage at 20°C for 2 days only (as the tissues degraded quickly). Their shear modulus as a function of depth in the organ was evaluated before (fresh) and after conservation using shear wave elastography. Results obtained on fresh kidneys were collected within 6h of death. Freezing lead to a significant decrease (p<0.05) of the shear modulus in the most superficial zone (renal cortex), irrespectively of the freezing temperature (-18°C, -34°C, -71°C). There were no significant change (p>0.05) in the properties of the renal cortex when stored at 4°C or 20°C. The average moduli in the central region of the kidney (medulla) were much higher than in the cortex and exhibited also exhibited larger specimen to specimen variations. The effects of the conservation method on the central region were not significant. Overall, the results suggest that kidney tissues should not be frozen prior to biomechanical characterization and that inhomogeneity may be important to consider for in biomechanical models.

Effect of two loading rates on the elasticity of the human anterior rectus sheath.

Tensile properties of connective tissues of the abdominal wall are necessary to better analyze the mechanical response of the human abdominal wall. Some tensile properties of these tissues have been reported in the past but data are still missing regarding the dependence of the elasticity on the loading rate, especially for the rectus sheath. Thus the aim of this study was to assess for the variation of human anterior rectus sheath elasticity using two loading rates. Seventeen samples of the rectus sheath were taken from three human post-mortem subjects and tested under tension at two different loading rates (0.01s(-1) and 50s(-1)). The mean value (standard deviation) of the quasi-static elasticity is 5.6 (3.2)MPa for the rectus sheath. The values at the high loading rate are 14 (8.3)MPa. The failure strength and the elasticity (at 50s(-1)) are significantly correlated (r²=0.79, p<0.01). Such a relationship opens the way to the estimation of the failure strength by a unique measurement of the elasticity. The loading rate influence was statistically significant with a linear elasticity 2.5 times greater at 50s(-1) than 0.01s(-1). Thus the loading rate influence on the mechanical properties would have to be taken into account in models considering transitory loading such as coughing and sneezing.

Mechanical response of animal abdominal walls in vitro: evaluation of the influence of a hernia defect and a repair with a mesh implanted intraperitoneally.

Better mechanical knowledge of the abdominal wall is requested to further develop and validate numerical models. The aim of this study was to characterize the passive behaviour of the abdominal wall under three configurations: intact, after creating a defect simulating an incisional hernia, and after a repair with a mesh implanted intraperitonally. For each configuration, controlled boundary conditions were applied (air pressure and then contact loading) to the abdominal wall. 3D local strain fields were determined by digital image correlation. Local strains measured on the internal and external surfaces of the intact abdominal wall showed different patterns. The air pressure and the force applied to the abdominal wall during contact loading were measured and used to determine stiffness. The presence of a defect resulted in a significant decrease of the global stiffness compared to the intact abdominal wall (about 25%). In addition, the presence of the mesh enabled to restore the stiffness to values that were not significantly different from those of the intact wall. These results suggest that intraperitoneal mesh seems to restore the global biomechanics of the abdomen.

Combination of a model-deformation method and a positional MRI to quantify the effects of posture on the anatomical structures of the trunk.

Understanding the postural effects on organs and skeleton could be crucial for several applications. This paper reports on a methodology to quantify the three-dimensional effects of postures on deformable anatomical structures. A positional MRI scanner was used to image the full trunk in four postures: supine, standing, seated and forward-flexed. The MRI stacks were processed with a custom toolbox, implemented using open source software. The semi-automated segmentation was based on the deformation of generic models of the pelvis, sternum, femoral heads, spine, liver, kidneys, spleen, skin, thoracic and abdominal cavities. The toolbox was designed to be easily extended by additional image filters, deformation schemes, or new generic models. Results obtained on one subject demonstrate that the method can be used to quantify the effects of postures on skeleton and organs. The spinal curvature, the pelvic parameters and the volume of the thoracic cavity were affected by the four postures. The volumes of the kidneys, spleen, liver and abdominal object were mostly unaffected. The movement of organs was coherent with the effect of gravity. The deformation of organs between postures was expressed using geometrical transformations. Investigations should be pursued on a larger population to confirm the patterns observed on the first subject.

Sensitivity of the tibio-femoral response to finite element modeling parameters.

A generic finite element (FE) model of the lower limb was used to study the knee response in-vivo during a one-legged hop. The approach uses an explicit FE code and a combination of estimated muscle forces and measured three-dimensional tibio-femoral kinematics and ground reaction force as input to the FE model. The sensitivity of the simulated tibio-femoral response to variations of key geometric and material parameters was investigated by performing a total of 38 different simulations. The amplitudes of both kinematic and kinetic responses were affected by the change of these parameters. For the current approach, the results suggest that while cartilage mechanical and geometric properties are very important for the estimation of tibio-femoral cartilage pressure, they have limited effects on the overall kinematic response. The study may help to better define the relative importance of modeling parameters for the development of subject-specific models.

A new method to investigate in vivo knee behavior using a finite element model of the lower limb.

Several finite element models have been developed for estimating the mechanical response of joint internal structures, where direct or indirect in vivo measurement is difficult or impossible. The quality of the predictions made by those models is largely dependent on the quality of the experimental data (e.g. load/displacement) used to drive them. Also numerical problems have been described in the literature when using implicit finite element techniques to simulate problems that involve contacts and large displacements. In this study, a unique strategy was developed combining high accuracy in vivo three-dimensional kinematics and a lower limb finite element model based on explicit finite element techniques. The method presents an analytical technique applied to a dynamic loading condition (impact during hopping on one leg). The validation of the lower limb model focused on the response of the whole model and the knee joint in particular to the imposed 3D femoral in vivo kinematics and ground reaction forces. The approach outlined in this study introduces a generic tool for the study of in vivo knee joint behavior.

Lower extremity injuries in lateral impact: a retrospective study.

ABSTRACT A retrospective analysis of the NASS/CDS database from 1993 to 2000 was used to investigate lower extremity injury in lateral impact. The analysis includes the study of the injury patterns, crash characteristics and the interactions between the occupant and the vehicle interior, including injuries to the farside occupants. The findings include significantly different injury patterns for the nearside and farside impacts. In particular, while the proportion of pelvis/hip injuries, with respect to AIS2 and AIS3 lower extremity skeletal injuries and 2-4 and 10-8 o'clock side impacts, was higher in nearside (70.4%) than farside (38.3%), the opposite trend was observed for the thigh (2.8% vs 4.5%), knee (6.2% vs 16.7%), leg (10.1% vs 19.5%) and foot/ankle (5.6% vs 14.7) injuries. Analysis of the PDOF suggested that a large proportion the impacts occurred obliquely, at approximately 10 and 2 o'clock, with a rearward component of force. It is hoped that the findings of the current study can help to investigate injury mechanisms.

Lower Limb: Advanced FE Model and New Experimental Data.

The Lower Limb Model for Safety (LLMS) is a finite element model of the lower limb developed mainly for safety applications. It is based on a detailed description of the lower limb anatomy derived from CT and MRI scans collected on a subject close to a 50th percentile male. The main anatomical structures from ankle to hip (excluding the hip) were all modeled with deformable elements. The modeling of the foot and ankle region was based on a previous model Beillas et al. (1999) that has been modified. The global validation of the LLMS focused on the response of the isolated lower leg to axial loading, the response of the isolated knee to frontal and lateral impact, and the interaction of the whole model with a Hybrid III model in a sled environment, for a total of nine different set-ups. In order to better characterize the axial behavior of the lower leg, experiments conducted on cadaveric tibia and foot were reanalyzed and experimental corridors were proposed. Future work will include additional validation of the model using global data, joint kinematics data, and deformation data at the local level.