Role of age and injury mechanism on cervical spine injury tolerance from head contact loading

<p><b>Objective:</b> The objective of this study was to determine the influence of age and injury mechanism on cervical spine tolerance to injury from head contact loading using survival analysis.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> This study analyzed data from previously conducted experiments using post mortem human subjects (PMHS). Group A tests used the upright intact head–cervical column experimental model. The inferior end of the specimen was fixed, the head was balanced by a mechanical system, and natural lordosis was removed. Specimens were placed on a testing device via a load cell. The piston applied loading at the vertex region. Spinal injuries were identified using medical images. Group B tests used the inverted head–cervical column experimental model. In one study, head–T1 specimens were fixed distally, and C7–T1 joints were oriented anteriorly, preserving lordosis. Torso mass of 16 kg was added to the specimen. In another inverted head–cervical column study, occiput–T2 columns were obtained, an artificial head was attached, T1–T2 was fixed, C4–C5 disc was maintained horizontal in the lordosis posture, and C7–T1 was unconstrained. The specimens were attached to the drop test carriage carrying a torso mass of 15 kg. A load cell at the inferior end measured neck loads in both studies. Axial neck force and age were used as the primary response variable and covariate to derive injury probability curves using survival analysis.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> Group A tests showed that age is a significant (<i>P</i> < .05) and negative covariate; that is, increasing age resulted in decreasing force for the same risk. Injuries were mainly vertebral body fractures and concentrated at one level, mid-to-lower cervical spine, and were attributed to compression-related mechanisms. However, age was not a significant covariate for the combined data from group B tests. Both group B tests produced many soft tissue injuries, at all levels, from C1 to T1. The injury mechanism was attributed to mainly extension. Multiple and noncontiguous injuries occurred. Injury probability curves, ±95% confidence intervals, and normalized confidence interval sizes representing the quality of the mean curve are given for different data sets.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> For compression-related injuries, specimen age should be used as a covariate or individual specimen data may be prescaled to derive risk curves. For distraction- or extension-related injuries, however, specimen age need not be used as a covariate in the statistical analysis. The findings from these tests and survival analysis indicate that the age factor modulates human cervical spine tolerance to impact injury.</p

A Development of a Human Cranial Bone Surrogate for Impact Studies

In order to replicate the fracture behavior of the intact human skull under impact it becomes necessary to develop a material having the mechanical properties of cranial bone. The most important properties to replicate in a surrogate human skull were found to be the fracture toughness and tensile strength of the cranial tables as well as the bending strength of the 3-layer (inner table-dipl&#246;e-outer table) architecture of the human skull. The materials selected to represent the surrogate cranial tables consisted of two different epoxy resins systems with random milled glass fiber to enhance the strength and stiffness and the materials to represent the surrogate dipl&#246;e consisted of three low density foams. Forty-one three-point bending fracture toughness tests were performed on nine material combinations. The materials that best represented the fracture toughness of cranial tables were then selected and formed into tensile samples and tested. These materials were then used with the two surrogate dipl&#246;e foam materials to create the three layer surrogate cranial bone samples for three point bending tests. Drop tower tests were performed on flat samples created from these materials and the fracture patterns were very similar to the linear fractures seen in pendulum impacts of intact human skulls. The surrogate cranial tables had the quasi-static fracture toughness and tensile strength of 2.5 MPa√m and 53 &#177; 4.9 MPa, respectively, while the same properties of human compact bone were 3.1 &#177; 1.8 MPa√m and 68 &#177; 18 MPa, respectively. The cranial surrogate had a quasi-static bending strength of 68 &#177; 5.7 MPa, while that of cranial bone was 82 &#177; 26 MPa. This material/design is currently being used to construct spherical shell samples for drop tower and ballistic tests