LAUSR

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is commonly caused by traumatic mechanical damage. While numerical models can help predicting the mechanics of SCI without putting the subjects in danger, previous studies did not focus on alternations in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure and did not account for the presence of epidural fat. This study aims to numerically compare the mechanical behavior of human spine when subjected to contusion and burst fracture with varying CSF pressure, either normal or elevated pressure that represent intracranial hypertension. Additional aim is to find how the presence of the fat in the model affects the SCI calculations. The CSF and the epidural fat were modeled as smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and the soft tissues as hyperelastic. This approach allowed to account for the CSF pressure alteration and its effect on the cord. Validation models resulted in good correlation with previous numerical and experimental studies. The results were able to capture the fluid dynamics of the CSF while demonstrating a considerable change in the stresses of the spinal cord. The comparison of the CSF pressures demonstrated that SCI in patients with elevated pressure and in regions where insufficient epidural fat exist, might lead to higher spinal cord stresses. Yet, in regions with enough fat, the fat can absorb energy and counteract the effect of the elevated pressure. These results indicate on important aspects that need to be accounted for in future numerical models of SCI while also demonstrating how the injury might aggravate by preexisting conditions.