Dynamic instrumented palpation - a new method for soft tissue quality assessment: application to prostate disease diagnosis.

The objective is to establish the feasibility of using dynamic instrumented palpation, a novel technique of low-frequency mechanical testing, applied here to diagnose soft tissue condition. The technique is applied, in vitro, to samples of excised prostate gland affected by benign prostate hyperplasia and/or prostate cancer. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between the histological structure of the tissue and the dynamic mechanical properties in an attempt to separate patient-specific aspects from histopathological condition (i.