Optical coherence elastography measurements on tissue-mimicking phantoms: a pilot study

The critical investigation of mechanical stiffness of biological tissues is an effective investigative tool for the early detection of various diseases and delivers an impactful understanding of the physiological state of cellular to organ level. Elastography is an experimental technique that is used for investigating the qualitative and quantitative properties of the tissue. In the current work, we have explored the capability of optical elastography set-up for determining the mechanical properties of tissue-mimicking phantoms with varying stiffness. The tissue phantom surface was excited by an electromechanical actuator on various frequencies and phase-shifting algorithm is employed for reconstruction of the surface wave. The preliminary results obtained from the current work can be extended to investigate the in-vivo and ex-vivo tissues in biomedical applications for future clinical translation.