Modeling of spinal cord and investigation of the injury mechanism during compression

To establish a Finite element model of thoracolumbar spinal cord and investigate the injury mechanism caused by burst fracture using finite element simulation. A three-dimensional finite element model of human spinal cord at T-12 and L-l level was developed. The model was validated with previous published literatures in terms of uniaxial tension, compression. Then, a burst fracture compressive simulation was performed to study the spinal cord injury mechanism. The strain distribution in the eight function regions of white and grey matter in transverse section was quantitatively documented with the bony fragments´ enroachment. When the encroachment increased to 2.7 mm, the strain in ventral cord tissue (AHMN (DM): 0.18, AHMN (PM): 0.26, VTF: 0.29 , ASCT: 0.04) is higher than dorsal (SG: 0.02, CN: 0.05, PSCT: 0.01, FG: 0.02). As the encroachement increased to maximum value (5.4 mm), the strains had no difference between ventral and dorsal spinal cord tissue.