Analysis of Collagen Fiber Organization in Mouse Achilles Tendon Using High-Frequency Ultrasound Imaging

Abstract

Achilles tendon ruptures are traumatic injuries that frequently occur in active individuals and result in significant medical expense. Common techniques for assessing outcomes of surgical repair and rehabilitation rely heavily on patient-based measures of pain and function. While these measures can provide evidence for recovery of functional performance, they do not directly assess tendon healing which, if insufficient, can lead to re-rupture. The clinical evaluation of collagen organization following Achilles tendon injury may provide a more accurate measure of healing than traditional, functional performance tests. It has been shown that changes in collagen organization precede and correlate with changes in mechanical properties in tendons [1–3] and that load and injury effect collagen organization [4–6]. Ultimately, if collagen organization could be quantified in vivo, it would represent a powerful, diagnostic tool to measure the progression of tendon healing, as well as to monitor damage accumulation due to injury.