Surfacic characterization of soft tissues biomechanical properties using impact-based methods: A comparative study

Various methods have been developed to assess the skin stiffness in order to assist the clinician for therapeutic monitoring or these diagnoses. The objective of this work was to compare the performances of a new acoustical characterization method based on impact analysis with those of two existing approaches, namely (i) a suction device, the Cutometer®, and (ii) a digital palpation tool, the MyotonPro®. This new impact analysis method is based on the analysis of the temporal variation of the force obtained during the impact of an instrumented hammer on a cylindrical punch placed in contact with a soft tissue mimicking phantom (Technogel®). The performances of the three aforementioned techniques (sensitivity and resolution) were assessed using homogeneous or bilayer structures with various thickness and rigidity, formed by different soft tissues mimicking gel pads. The impact analysis based method (IBAM) was two times better than the other two approaches in terms of reproducibility and sensitivity. The axial resolution of the IBAM was around 20 times better compared to the two other methods. The results open the way for the development of a cheap, non-invasive and objective method that could be used in the future in the cosmetic industry and in dermatology. This project has received funding from the projects OrthAncil (ANR-21-CE19-0035-03) and from the project OrthoMat (ANR-21-CE17-0004).