Inverse estimation of biomechanical parameters of soft tissues from non-invasive measurements has clinical significance in patient-specific modelling and disease diagnosis.In this paper, we propose a fully nonlinear approach to estimate the mechanical properties of the human gallbladder wall muscles from in vivo ultrasound images. The iteration method consists of a forward approach, in which the constitutive equation is based on a modified Hozapfel-Gasser-Ogden law initially developed for arteries. Five constitutive parameters describing the two orthogonal families of fibres and the matrix material are determined by comparing the computed displacements with medical images. The optimization process is carried out using the MATLAB toolbox, a Python code, and the ABAQUS solver. The proposed method is validated with published data in artery and subsequently applied to ten human gallbladder samples. Results show that the human gallbladder wall is anisotropic during passive refilling phase, and that the peak stress is 1.6 times greater than that calculated using the linear mechanics. This discrepancy arises because the wall thickness reduces by 1.6 times during the deformation, which is not predicted by conventional linear elasticity. If the change of wall thickness is accounted for, then the linear model can used to predict the gallbladder stress and its correlation with pain. This work provides further understanding of the nonlinear characteristics of human gallbladder.

Abstract-Bile flow is thought to play an essential role in the pathophysiological genesis of cholelithiasis (gallstone formation) and in gallbladder pain. In this paper, we extend our previous study of the human biliary system (Li et al., 2007, J. Biomech. Eng., 129:164-173) to include two important factors: the non-Newtonian properties of bile, and elastic deformation of the cystic duct. A one-dimensional (1D) model is analyzed and compared with three-dimensional (3D) fluid-structure interaction simulations. It is found that non-Newtonian bile raises resistance to the flow of bile, which can be augmented significantly by the elastic deformation (collapse) of the cystic duct. We also show that the 1D model predicts the pressure drop of the cystic duct flow well for all cases considered (Newtonian or non-Newtonian flow, rigid or elastic ducts), when compared with the full 3D simulations.