Development of a real-time tactile sensing system for brain tumor diagnosis.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Tactile sensing techniques may distinguish tumor from healthy tissue and have potential for intraoperative brain tumor diagnosis. The aim of this study is to develop a biocompatible real-time sensing system to measure tactile information such as softness and smoothness, and its application to brain tumor diagnosis. METHODS: An active tactile sensor is developed using balloon expansion. This compact system provides instantaneous tactile information and has potential for brain tumor diagnosis. Measurements are obtained on soft samples with different stiffness and surface condition with testing of boundary condition influence on thickness and area of the object. Then, measurements on white matter and gray matter of porcine ex vivo brain are done as the first step for brain tumor diagnosis. RESULTS: The sensor can discriminate samples with different stiffness and surface condition subject to influence by boundary conditions. The sensor can evaluate an object relatively under the same boundary conditions but requires enough thickness and area to evaluate absolutely. Measurements on brain show that the sensor can discriminate between white matter and gray matter. CONCLUSIONS: Although the sensor has problems on absolute evaluation, results show that the sensor can evaluate tactile information, and it has potential for brain tumor diagnosis.