Citation

Löwenhielm P. Proc. IRCOBI 1973; 1: 423-430.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1973, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A common head injury in car crash victims is rupture of the parasagittal bridging veins. These ruptures are not only seen at the surface of the brain, but also in the depth of the convolutions in the gray and the white matter. The cause of these deeper ruptures has been obscure and has been described as gliding contusions. In order to explain this type of injury the dynamic properties of the bridging veins were investigated. The results indicate that the elongation capacity of the vessels is strongly dependent on the elongation rate. Thus, at static loading the elongation may be more than 100% while at elongation rates at about 500 see-1 the elongation capacity is reduced to 20%. The deformation of the brain close to the brain surface is considerable, when the head is subjected to angular acceleration and will elongate the bridging veins more than 20%, thus causing rupture.