Clinical device modelling in the measurement of a tissue hardness

The aim of this study is to design a new hardness measurement device for soft tissue hardness diagnosing.Presently, quantitative measurement of tissue hardnesses can?t be accomplished, because of the lack of biomedical and biomechanical devices. The hardness diagnosis of the servix, prostate or soft tissues is performed by palpation. This method gives results that differ from operator to operator, so special, easy applicable clincal devices need to be developed. At this study, a design of this necessary device was done.Experiments were done on the Agorose gel and silicon membrane which were taken as soft tissues. The Force ? Hardness relation graph, that was obtained after the results, was found to be lineer. Furthermore, the range between the standart deviation and the avarage value, that were obtained from the results, was %2,66 for the prototype. This range was %2,22 for the durometer. These results show that the prototype is sensitive as the durometer, even the prototype can be more sensitive by modifications.Consequently, after the ethic committee permissions, studies on animals and humans should be done. After the positive results, this prototype can be started to be used at the concerned clinics. By this way, the subjective factors can be removed in the diagnose of soft tissue hardnesses, so a quantitative evaluation can be done instead of the palpation method.