Monitoring of sutured flexor tendons using spectral domain optical coherence tomography

Abstract

The material behaviour of sutured tendons is important in healing models as mechanical trauma to the tendon during surgery can compromise the healing process. This work demonstrates the use of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) for the monitoring of normal and injured, and subsequently repaired flexor tendons and their behaviour under load. Vertical crimp patterns in normal tendons were observed to be replaced by uniform scattering as the load increases, but the crimp periods in sutured tendons were constrained at the suture site, with gap separation at the suture joint tapering off at high loads. This information could be useful for surgeons who need to balance gap separation in healing tendons and sustainable load. © 2010 Copyright SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering.