Analysis of the mechanical characteristics of human pancreas through indentation: preliminary in vitro results on surgical samples as a pathway towards a realistic phantom.

Introduction Pancreatic surgery is extremely challenging and demands an extended learning curve to be executed with a low incidence of post-operative complications. The soft consistency of the human pancreas poses a primary challenge for pancreatic surgeons. This study aimed to analyze the preliminary mechanical characteristics of the human pancreas to develop a realistic synthetic phantom for surgical simulations in the near future. Materials and Methods After a long period to settle the right indentation protocol, 73 pancreatic specimens were collected during pancreatic resections and immediately analyzed through nano-bio-indentation (BioindenterTM UNHT3 Bio, Anton Paar GmbH, Graz, Austria). Of these, 40 samples obtained inclusion criteria with proper measurement of the elastic modulus for both the pancreatic parenchyma and the main pancreatic duct (MPD) as well as the anatomopathological evaluation of the level of fibrosis. Results The elastic modulus resulted in a median value of 1.66 kPa for the pancreatic parenchyma and of 2.93 kPa for the MPD. As expected, pancreas and MPD exhibited different elastic modulus values because of their different compositions, with slightly higher values for the MPD. However, in the cohort analyzed the difference between the two values did not reveal to be statistically significant. Conclusions These preliminary findings represent the initial steps toward defining the mechanical characteristics of human pancreatic tissue and provide solid bases for selecting suitable synthetic materials with the goal of creating a realistic phantom.