Costal cartilage elasticity can be estimated non-destructively using speed of sound
Résumé
Costal cartilage connects the ribs and the sternum. The knowledge of the costal cartilage mechanical properties remains limited among children. It was shown ex vivo (using samples from subjects between 5 and 25 years old) that the strength of costal cartilage changes with age (Guo et al. 2007). However, there are no data on the elastic modulus (Lau et al. 2008) under 23 years old. During growth and ageing, costal cartilage might evolve. In particular during ageing, mineralization can be observed in the costal cartilage. To study these evolutions along the age, a non-destructive and non-invasive technique would be of interest.