A Probing Device for Quantitatively Measuring the Mechanical Properties of Soft Tissues during Arthroscopy.

Probing in arthroscopic surgery is performed by pulling or pushing the soft tissue, which provides feedback for understanding the condition of the soft tissue. However, the output is only qualitative based on the "surgeon's feeling". Herein is described a probing device developed to address this issue by measuring the resistance of soft tissues quantitatively with a tri-axial force sensor. Under both conditions (i.e., pull- and push-probing certain tissues mimicking the acetabular labrum and cartilage), this probing device is found to be useful for measuring some mechanical properties in joints during arthroscopy.