Characterization of the Biomechanical Properties of the Lower Esophagus for Surgical Simulation

In this work a method to characterize soft tissue properties for mechanical modeling is presented. Attention is especially focused on developing a model of the lower esophagus to be used in a surgical simulation, which shows a promise as a training method for medical personnel. The viscoelastic properties of the lower esophageal junction are characterized using data from animal experiments and an inverse FE parameter estimation algorithm. Utilizing the assumptions of quasilinear- viscoelastic theory, the viscoelastic and hyperelastic material parameters are estimated to provide a physically based simulation of tissue deformations in real time. To calibrate the parameters to the experimental results, a three dimensional FE model that simulates the forces at the indenter and an optimization program that updates new parameters and runs the simulation iteratively are developed. It was possible to reduce the time and computation resources by decoupling the viscoelastic part and elastic part in a tissue model. The comparison of the simulation and the experimental behavior of pig esophagus are presented to provide validity to the tissue model using the proposed approach.