ELASTIC MODULUS ADJUSTMENT OF A THERMORESPONSIVE BIOLOGICAL TISSUE PHANTOM FOR SAFETY ASSESSMENT OF ENERGY DEVICES

Abstract

A surgical energy device is an apparatus that converts energy into heat to incise or coagulate tissues and organs. Its usage can cause thermal damage in an unexpected area of biological tissue. It is necessary to investigate temperature rise near the dissection part when developing new energy devices. This study aims to develop a biological tissue-mimicking phantom that can visualize temperature rise around 60 °C. We used OEGMA-based hydrogel and evaluated its elastic modulus to emulate the properties of biological tissue. The elasticity increased with increasing crosslinker concentration, reaching a maximum of 71.7 kPa. We observed that the hydrophobic crosslinker EGDMA did not precipitate in the gelation process in EGDMA concentrations ranging up to 0.100 M using the two-step gelation approach.