A Study on Injury Mechanism of Cervical Spinal Cord in Frontal Impact

The incidence of cervical spinal cord injury in vehicle collisions is common. However the specific mechanism of spinal cord injury is not clear. The aim of this study was to discuss the mechanism of the cervical spinal cord injury during vehicle collision via Finite Element Analysis(FEA). A complete cervical spinal cord model with detailed anatomical structures of gray matter, white matter, pia mater, dura mater and cerebrospinal fluid was developed and validated. This model was then assembled with a well-validated head-neck FE model. In order to simulate the biomechanical response of spinal cord in frontal impact, the assembled model was merged with Hybrid III FE model by replacing the head and neck parts. Different intensities of frontal impact were simulated. The results showed that ventral white matter's lesions were more serious than the dorsal white matter. The greatest stress of cervical spinal cord was found in the level of atlas that may be caused by the excessive relative motion in atlantoaxial join...The incidence of cervical spinal cord injury in vehicle collisions is common. However the specific mechanism of spinal cord injury is not clear. The aim of this study was to discuss the mechanism of the cervical spinal cord injury during vehicle collision via Finite Element Analysis(FEA). A complete cervical spinal cord model with detailed anatomical structures of gray matter, white matter, pia mater, dura mater and cerebrospinal fluid was developed and validated. This model was then assembled with a well-湖南大学汽车车身先进设计制造国家重点实验室1