Full-field in vivo experimental study of the strains of a breathing human abdominal wall with intra-abdominal pressure variation.

Abstract

The presented study aims to assess the mechanical behaviour of the anterior abdominal wall based on an in vivo experiment on humans. Full-field measurement of abdominal wall displacement during changes of intra-abdominal pressure is performed using a digital image correlation (DIC) system. Continuous measurement in time enables the observation of changes in the strain field during breathing. The understanding of the mechanical behaviour of a living human abdominal wall is important for the proper design of surgical meshes used for ventral hernia repair, which was also a motivation for the research presented below. The research refers to the strain field of a loaded abdominal wall and presents the evolution of principal strains and their directions in the case of 12 subjects, 8 male and 4 female. Peritoneal dialysis procedure allows for the measurement of intra-abdominal pressure after fluid introduction. High variability among patients is observed, also in terms of principal strain direction. Subjects exhibit intra-abdominal pressure of values from 11 to 21 cmH₂O. However, the strain values are not strongly correlated with the pressure value, indicating variability of material properties.