{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,12]],"date-time":"2026-02-12T12:04:24Z","timestamp":1770897864167,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,8]],"date-time":"2021-03-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1615161600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Current ultrasound techniques face several challenges to measure strains when translated from large tendon to in-situ knee collateral ligament applications, despite the potential to reduce knee arthroplasty failures attributed to ligament imbalance. Therefore, we developed, optimized and validated an ultrasound speckle tracking method to assess the in-situ strains of the medial and lateral collateral ligaments. Nine cadaveric legs with total knee implants were submitted to varus\/valgus loading and divided into two groups: \u201coptimization\u201d and \u201cvalidation\u201d. Reference strains were measured using digital image correlation technique, while ultrasound data were processed with a custom-built speckle tracking approach. Using specimens from the \u201coptimization\u201d group, several tracking parameters were tuned towards an optimized tracking performance. The parameters were ranked according to three comparative measures between the ultrasound-based and reference strains: R2, mean absolute error and strains differences at 40 N. Specimens from the \u201cvalidation\u201d group, processed with the optimal parameters, showed good correlations, along with small mean absolute differences, with correlation values above 0.99 and 0.89 and differences below 0.57% and 0.27% for the lateral and medial collateral ligaments, respectively. This study showed that ultrasound speckle tracking could assess knee collateral ligaments strains in situ and has the potential to be translated to clinics for knee arthroplasty-related procedures.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s21051895","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,8]],"date-time":"2021-03-08T12:12:18Z","timestamp":1615205538000},"page":"1895","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Validated Ultrasound Speckle Tracking Method for Measuring Strains of Knee Collateral Ligaments In-Situ during Varus\/Valgus Loading"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8852-5052","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"F\u00e9lix","family":"Dandois","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Development and Regeneration Department, Institute for Orthopaedic Research and Training (IORT), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Or\u00e7un","family":"Taylan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Development and Regeneration Department, Institute for Orthopaedic Research and Training (IORT), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Johan","family":"Bellemans","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Orthopaedics, Ziekenhuis Oost Limburg (ZOL), 3600 Genk, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jan","family":"D\u2019hooge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiovascular Imaging and Dynamics, Cardiovascular Sciences Department, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5828-0904","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hilde","family":"Vandenneucker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Development and Regeneration Department, Institute for Orthopaedic Research and Training (IORT), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium"},{"name":"Department of Orthopaedics, University Hospitals Leuven, 49 Herestraat, 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Laura","family":"Slane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14602, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1727-533X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lennart","family":"Scheys","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Development and Regeneration Department, Institute for Orthopaedic Research and Training (IORT), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium"},{"name":"Department of Orthopaedics, University Hospitals Leuven, 49 Herestraat, 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Nordin, M., and Frankel, V.H. 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