A Trial Evaluation of Hepatic Fibrosis using New Tactile Sensor

Toshiyuki Ono, Yuichi Hatakeyama, Kiyoshi Hara, Wataru Igarashi, Naoki Satou, Yoshihisa Koyama, Norio Inoue, Atsuo Tsuchiya, Rikiya Abe, Sadao Omata*

Second Department of Surgery, Fukushima Medical College, College of Engineering Nihon University*

We had reported that it was useful to evaluate of the degree of fibrosis in liver for determining the method of hepatectomy. In this study we examined the significance of measurement of the hardness in liver using new tactile sensor. Using the livers of rats that had been administrated thioacetamide (200 mg/kg, 3 times/week, intraperitoneal), we measured hepatic fibrosis ratio (HFR) by computed color image analysis and measured Δf and stiffness by new tactile senor. We investigated correlation between HFR and Δf, stiffness. There was highly significant correlation between HFR and Δf (r=0.791, p<0.0001), stiffness (r=0.844, p<0.0001). Therefore new tactile sensor was very useful to appraise the hardness of liver simply and rapidly.

Key words
hepatic fibrosis, liver cirrhosis, hardness in liver

Reprint requests
Toshiyuki Ono Second Department of Surgery, Fukushima Medical College
1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-12 JAPAN

Accepted
January 8, 1997

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