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Biomechanical properties of breast tissue, a state-of-the-art review

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Abstract

This paper reviews the existing literature on the tests used to determine the mechanical properties of women breast tissues (fat, glandular and tumour tissue) as well as the different values of these properties. The knowledge of the mechanical properties of breast tissue is important for cancer detection, study and planning of surgical procedures such as surgical breast reconstruction using pre-surgical methods and improving the interpretation of clinical tests. Based on the data collected from the analysed studies, some important conclusions were achieved: (1) the Young’s modulus of breast tissues is highly dependent on the tissue preload compression level, and (2) the results of these studies clearly indicate a wide variation in moduli not only among different types of tissue but also within each type of tissue. These differences were most evident in normal fat and fibroglandular tissues.

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Acknowledgments

The support of Ministério da Ciência Tecnologia e do Ensino Superior and Fundo Social Europeu (MCTES and FSE) under grants SFRH / BD / 85090 / 2012 and SFRH/ BPD/71080/2010 from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia I.P. (FCT, Portugal) and funding of Laboratório Associado de Energia, Transportes e Aeronáutica (LAETA—UID/EMS/50022/2013) are gratefully acknowledged.

The authors would like to acknowledge the outstanding revision work carried out by the reviewers of the paper. Their constructive criticism was a fundamental contribution to elevate the overall quality of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INEGI, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias 404, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Nilza G. Ramião, Pedro S. Martins, Rita Rynkevic & António A. Fernandes

  2. Department of Development and Regeneration, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, box 7003, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Rita Rynkevic

  3. Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 404, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    António A. Fernandes

  4. Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia, Serviço de Cirurgia Plástica, Rua Conceição Fernandes, 4434-502, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal

    Maria Barroso & Diana C. Santos

  5. INEGI-Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 400, Porto, Portugal

    Pedro S. Martins

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  1. Nilza G. Ramião
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Ramião, N.G., Martins, P.S., Rynkevic, R. et al. Biomechanical properties of breast tissue, a state-of-the-art review. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 15, 1307–1323 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-016-0763-8

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