An ideal biomaterial should mimic the properties of the implantation site. A biomaterial in a very broad definition is a biological or synthetic substance that, when implanted in the body, will cause a controlled host response. Treatments and therapies involving the use of any type of biomaterial should resemble the natural viscoelastic response of the site of implantationīiomaterials are used for the fabrication of medical implants that are placed inside or on the surface of the body. Therefore, the results of elastography can show the presence and extent of fibrosis which can help in the choice of the best treatment.Ģ. The presence of fibrosis should result in harder regions with higher values of stiffness. For example, liver fibrosis is the formation of an abnormally large amount of scar tissue when the liver attempts to repair and replace damaged tissue. This information is useful for detecting the presence and severity of diseases. Medical imaging known as elastography is used to non-invasively map the viscoelastic properties of soft tissues inside the body. Human tissues such as skin, muscle, cardiac, and adipose tissues have their own specific viscoelasticity. The understanding of viscoelasticity in the human body is extremely important, mainly for the two reasons listed below:ġ. Differences in the tissue viscoelasticity can be related to the presence of diseases It will deform with the force and it will slowly return to its original state after the force is removed. A viscoelastic object will then show both types of responses. On the other side of the spectrum, a material can behave as an (elastic) solid capable of deforming under an applied force and returning instantly to its original state when the force is removed. Going into more details about viscoelastic behavior: on one side, a material can behave as a (viscous) fluid capable of flowing when submitted to a force. In other words, cells, tissues, and organs have a mix of viscous and elastic responses when submitted to mechanical forces and this viscoelastic response is part of their main physiological role. An important point to extract from this example is that all the components of our body show a viscoelastic behavior to some extent and this behavior is related to their function in the body. A heart attack, for example, can cause scar formation in the heart muscle, which leads to loss of muscular power and possibly heart failure. However, in internal tissues and organs, scars can compromise functioning. On the skin, this difference probably won’t cause major problems beyond esthetics. A scar has a clearly different appearance, texture, and often hardness than the surrounding tissue. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair that can happen in any organ or tissue of the body. If you look at any scar on your skin you will see a difference in viscoelasticity.
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