ABSTRACT
Using soft tissue elasticity for the assessment of dierent path-ological conditions has been a clinical approach for thousands of years. e most common technique is referred to as ‘palpation’, i.e. using ngers to feel tissue elasticity (Figure 1.1). e elasticity of so tissues can be referred to as hardness, stiness and so on, which represents how much a tissue can be deformed under a certain loading condition. For example, when a tissue is undergoing brosis, it becomes stier; when there is an oedema, it may become so er. In ancient Greece, palpation was recommended as a method to detect stiening or pain of the abdomen by Hippocratic physicians (Nicolson 1993). For example, palpation was used as part of the practice for dierentiating between ascites and tympanites. Because of the dierence in internal uids, the operator would feel quite dierently for the two dierent pathologies. In the eighteenth century, palpation was also used as a bedside practice for the detection of tumour as recorded in Mogagni’s classic work e Seats and Causes of Diseases as Investigated by Anatomy: ‘and being asked to feel the man’s belly, I scarcely perceiv’d any particular tumor elsewhere than in the scrobiculus cordis’.
