Design of a Handheld Tissue Grasping Device to Measure Tissue Mechanical Properties In-Vivo or in a Laboratory Setting

Abstract With medical institutions increasing the use of medical simulators for educational purposes it is detrimental that the knowledge gap regarding tissue mechanical properties be researched further in depth. The grasper device discussed throughout this paper aims to provide researchers a handheld device capable of testing soft organs and tissue in-vivo and ex-situ in a laboratory setting. The device consists of two load cells on the inner jaws of the grasper to measure compressive force and an encoder to monitor the graspers angular position which yields tissue position and strain. Accompanying the grasper is a GUI written in Rust which is capable of data file management, and providing a 10 second live feed of load cell and encoder readings. The grasper device is currently being employed in a study testing the tissue mechanical response of porcine tissue at states ranging from in-vivo to ex-situ post freeze. The results from this test, and subsequent tests using the grasper have the capability of providing much needed knowledge regarding tissue mechanical properties to improve medical simulators and medical education as a whole.