Multiphysical modelling of mechanical behaviour of soft tissue : application to prostate
Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to propose computational methodologies to analyse how the
morphological and microstructural changes in the soft tissues, caused by various
pathological conditions, influence the mechanical properties of tissue. More importantly,
how such understanding could provide more insights into the mechanical properties of
tissue for the purpose of quantitative diagnosis. To achieve this objective, statistical
analysis of tissue microstructure based on image processing of tissue histology has been
carried out. The influence of such microstructural changes due to different pathological
conditions has also been compared to the mechanical properties of the tissue by means of
the homogenization approach. To understand better the influence of fluid movement in
viscoelastic behaviour of tissue, an optimization based method using numerical
homogenization that is integrated with fluid-structure interaction (FSI) modelling is
presented. The microstructures of soft tissue are treated as bi-phasic materials, solid
material representing the cells and extracellular materials and fluid phase for the
interstitial fluid. Such proposed method would be beneficial for quantitative assessment
of mechanical properties of soft tissue, as well as understanding the role of multiscale
microstructural features of soft tissues in its functionality. It is envisaged that this work
will pave the road towards more precise characterization of mechanical properties of soft
tissue which can be implemented to non-invasive diagnostic techniques, in order to
improve the effectiveness of a range of diagnostic methods such as palpation for primary
prostate diagnosis and, more importantly, the life quality of patients.