Pediatric spinal cord injury is a devastating trauma outcome with life-long debilitating consequences. Each year in the United States alone, over 1000 children under the age of 15 incur spinal cord injuries; approximately 10% are fatal, while 41% of these children sustain varying degrees of irreversible neurological deficit. These injuries most often occur in the cervical region (80%) and, compared with all other pediatric injuries, result in the largest AIS scores, highest mortality, and longest hospital stays. Many of these injuries are a result of tensile forces applied to the spine from the deployment of air bags. Few biomechanics studies have addressed these air-bag-related injuries; therefore our current project is aimed at determining neck injury criteria for the pediatric spine. This program will determine the tensile strength of cadaver baboon cervical spines. We are testing the hypothesis that younger age specimens have less strength but more ductility characteristics than adult specimens. Also, we will examine the failure patterns and mechanisms of injury that might occur at different ages. Therefore, the ultimate goal is to obtain age scaling laws for cervical spine tensile failure characteristics so that they may be applied in injury prevention strategies for the human pediatric population. This project, which has just gotten under way, is already generating excellent results. Using cervical spine tissue from baboon cadavers, we are beginning to obtain data for the validation of test dummies and computer models, the development of injury prevention schemes, and the evolution of better injury management and care strategies.
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