Citation

Mattucci S, Speidel J, Liu J, Kwon BK, Tetzlaff W, Oxland TR. Clin. Biomech. 2019; 64: 58-68.

Affiliation

International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), University of British Columbia, 818 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9, Canada; Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, 6250 Applied Science Lane, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada; Department of Orthopaedics, University of British Columbia, 910 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9, Canada. Electronic address: toxland@mail.ubc.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2018.03.020

PMID

29685426

Abstract

The wide variability, or heterogeneity, in human spinal cord injury is due partially to biomechanical factors. This review summarizes our current knowledge surrounding the patterns of human spinal column injury and the biomechanical factors affecting injury. The biomechanics of human spinal injury is studied most frequently with human cadaveric models and the features of the two most common injury patterns, burst fracture and fracture dislocation, are outlined. The biology of spinal cord injury is typically studied with animal models and the effects of the most relevant biomechanical factors - injury mechanism, injury velocity, and residual compression, are described. Tissue damage patterns and behavioural outcomes following dislocation or distraction injury mechanisms differ from the more commonly used contusion mechanism. The velocity of injury affects spinal cord damage, principally in the white matter. Ongoing, or residual compression after the initial impact does affect spinal cord damage, but few models exist that replicate the clinical scenario. Future research should focus on the effects of these biomechanical factors in different preclinical animal models as recent data suggests that treatment outcomes may vary between models.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Animal model; Biomechanics; Impact velocity; Injury mechanism; Residual compression; Spinal cord injury