Piezoelectric tactile sensor for submucosal tumor hardness detection in endoscopy

The aim of this study is to develop a miniaturized tactile sensor which is suitable for mounting on an endoscope for the hardness detection of submucosal tumors. The size of the piezoelectric tactile sensor is only 1.5 mm in diameter and hence it can be easily inserted in the endoscopy channel. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first miniaturized hardness sensor that is compatible with endoscopy. We embedded different elastomers and artificial tumors in a pig stomach for simulating the conditions of submucosal tumors human patients. The experimental results show that the sensor is capable of differentiating the different artificial tumors from normal tissues in a pig stomach. In addition, the output voltage ratio is proportional to the elastomer hardness. Consequently, the proposed sensor could provide a more effective way to detect the submucosal tumor comparable to state of the art endoscopic ultrasound.