LASTIC: A Light Aspiration Device for in vivo Soft TIssue Characterization

This paper introduces a new Light Aspiration device for in vivo Soft TIssue Characterization (LASTIC). This device is designed to be used during surgery, and can undergo sterilization. It provides interactive-time estimation of the elastic parameters. LASTIC is a 3cm x 3cm metallic cylinder divided in two compartments. The lower compartment is a cylindrical chamber made airtight by a glass window in which a negative pressure can be applied. Put in contact with soft tissues, it can aspirate the tissues into the chamber through a circular aperture in its bottom side. The upper compartment is clinched onto the lower part. A miniature digital camera is fixed inside the upper chamber, focusing on the aspirated soft tissue. LASTIC is operated by applying a range of negative pressures in the lower compartment while measuring the resulting aspirated tissue deformations with the digital camera. These measurements are used to estimate the tissue elasticity parameters by inverting a Finite Element model of the suction experiment. In order to use LASTIC during surgical interventions, a library-based optimization process is used to provide an interactive time inversion.