Non-homoeneous Deformations in Bone by Moir Interferometry J. Wood, R. Rao, D. Grillo, S. Saha , Clemson University 270. It is well known that the mechanical properties of pathological tissues vary from that of healthy tissue. For example, many disease processes such as tumors of the breast and prostate manifest themselves as stiff, hard nodules relative to the surrounding tissue. Subsurface skin tumors present themselves as objects with distinct mechanical properties relative to the surrounding normal tissue. The displacement of fibrillar papillary dermis by the softer, cellular mass of a growing melanoma is one such example of this.
Optical methods provide a means to quantify the strain response of tissue to an imposed stress.
This response may be used to differentiate between healthy and pathological tissues. Herein a novel acousto-optic method will be presented that is capable of evaluating the dynamic strain response of soft tissues to an imposed dynamic stress. This optical elastography technique may find uses in tissue mechanics research as well as in noninvasive medical diagnostics. In addition to biological tissues, the system is suitable for evaluating the micromechanics of synthetic biomaterials as well.