A review of methods to measure tendon dimensions.

Tendons are soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system that are designed to facilitate joint movement. Tendons exhibit a wide range of mechanical properties matched to their functions and, as a result, have been of interest to researchers for many decades. Dimensions are an important aspect of tendon properties.Change in the dimensions of tissues is often seen as a sign of injury and degeneration, as it may suggest inflammation or general disorder of the tissue. Dimensions are also important for determining the mechanical properties and behaviours of materials, particularly the stress, strain, and elastic modulus. This makes the dimensions significant in the context of a mechanical study of degenerated tendons. Additionally, tendon dimensions are useful in planning harvesting for tendon transfer and joint reconstruction purposes.Historically, many methods have been used in an attempt to accurately measure the dimensions of soft tissue, since improper measurement can lead to large errors in the calculated properties. These methods can be categorised as destructive (by approximation), contact, and non-contact and can be considered in terms of in vivo and ex vivo.

Structured white light scanning of rabbit Achilles tendon.

BACKGROUND: The cross-sectional area (CSA) of a material is used to calculate stress under load. The mechanical behaviour of soft tissue is of clinical interest in the management of injury; however, measuring CSA of soft tissue is challenging as samples are geometrically irregular and may deform during measurement. This study presents a simple method, using structured light scanning (SLS), to acquire a 3D model of rabbit Achilles tendon in vitro for measuring CSA of a tendon. METHOD: The Artec Spider™ 3D scanner uses structured light and stereophotogrammetry technologies to acquire shape data and reconstruct a 3D model of an object. In this study, the 3D scanner was integrated with a custom mechanical rig, permitting 360-degree acquisition of the morphology of six New Zealand White rabbit Achilles tendons. The reconstructed 3D model was then used to measure CSA of the tendon. SLS, together with callipers and micro-CT, was used to measure CSA of objects with a regular or complex shape, such as a drill flute and human cervical vertebra, for validating the accuracy and repeatability of the technique. RESULTS: CSA of six tendons was measured with a coefficient of variation of less than 2%. The mean CSA was 9.9±1.0mm2, comparable with those reported by other researchers. Scanning of phantoms demonstrated similar results to µCT. CONCLUSION: The technique developed in this study offers a simple and accurate method for effectively measuring CSA of soft tissue such as tendons. This allows for localised calculation of stress along the length, assisting in the understanding of the function, injury mechanisms and rehabilitation of tissue.