Quantitative Assessment of Human Anisotropic Skin Elasticity Using the Dispersion Curve of Surface Acoustic Wave Elastography

TY - JOUR

T1 - Quantitative Assessment of Human Anisotropic Skin Elasticity Using the Dispersion Curve of Surface Acoustic Wave Elastography

AU - Zhang, Guangyu

AU - Feng, Zhengshuyi

AU - Li, Chunhui

AU - Huang, Zhihong

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

PY - 2025/11

Y1 - 2025/11

N2 - Accurate assessment of skin elasticity is critical for understanding its physiological and pathological conditions. Conventional models often neglect anisotropy, leading to inconsistent measurements. We investigated skin anisotropic using Surface acoustic wave (SAW) based Optical Coherence Elastography (OCE), analyzing the angular ((Formula presented.)) dependence of SAW velocity ((Formula presented.)) relative to fiber orientation. Validation experiments were conducted on chicken thighs and human forearms. In chicken thighs, (Formula presented.) showed significant differences across propagation directions ranging from 90° to 0° ((Formula presented.) = 0.008 < 0.05). In the dermis layer of forearms, the (Formula presented.) demonstrated significant angular dependence ((Formula presented.) = 0.031), with a percentage change of 31% while Young's modulus ((Formula presented.)) increased by 21.7 ± 11.5 kPa (60.32%) from 90° to 0°. No significant dependence was found in the hypodermis layer. These results demonstrate that incorporating anisotropy improves elasticity estimation and provides a practical foundation for skin assessment.

AB - Accurate assessment of skin elasticity is critical for understanding its physiological and pathological conditions. Conventional models often neglect anisotropy, leading to inconsistent measurements. We investigated skin anisotropic using Surface acoustic wave (SAW) based Optical Coherence Elastography (OCE), analyzing the angular ((Formula presented.)) dependence of SAW velocity ((Formula presented.)) relative to fiber orientation. Validation experiments were conducted on chicken thighs and human forearms. In chicken thighs, (Formula presented.) showed significant differences across propagation directions ranging from 90° to 0° ((Formula presented.) = 0.008 < 0.05). In the dermis layer of forearms, the (Formula presented.) demonstrated significant angular dependence ((Formula presented.) = 0.031), with a percentage change of 31% while Young's modulus ((Formula presented.)) increased by 21.7 ± 11.5 kPa (60.32%) from 90° to 0°. No significant dependence was found in the hypodermis layer. These results demonstrate that incorporating anisotropy improves elasticity estimation and provides a practical foundation for skin assessment.

KW - fiber orientation

KW - nearly incompressible transversely isotropic

KW - optical coherence elastography

KW - shear anisotropic ratio

KW - surface acoustic wave

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105011255715

U2 - 10.1002/jbio.202500299

DO - 10.1002/jbio.202500299

M3 - Article

C2 - 40686029

AN - SCOPUS:105011255715

SN - 1864-063X

VL - 18

JO - Journal of Biophotonics

JF - Journal of Biophotonics

IS - 11

M1 - e202500299

ER -