Cervical spine injuries and flexibilities following axial impact with lateral eccentricity.

PURPOSE: Determine the effects of dynamic injurious axial compression applied at various lateral eccentricities (lateral distance to the centre of the spine) on mechanical flexibilities and structural injury patterns of the cervical spine. METHODS: 13 three-vertebra human cadaver cervical spine specimens (6 C3-5, 3 C4-6, 2 C5-7, 2 C6-T1) were subjected to pure moment flexibility tests (±1.5 Nm) before and after impact trauma was applied in two groups: low and high lateral eccentricity (1 and 150 % of the lateral diameter of the vertebral body, respectively). Relative range of motion (ROM) and relative neutral zone (NZ) were calculated as the ratio of post and pre-trauma values. Injuries were diagnosed by a spine surgeon and scored. Classification functions were developed using discriminant analysis. RESULTS: Low and high eccentric loading resulted in primarily bony fractures and soft tissue injuries, respectively. Axial impacts with high lateral eccentricities resulted in greater spinal motion in lateral bending [median relative ROM 3.5 (interquartile range, IQR 2.3) vs. 1.4 (IQR 0.5) and median relative NZ 4.7 (IQR 3.7) vs. 2.3 (IQR 1.1)] and in axial rotation [median relative ROM 5.3 (IQR 13.7) vs. 1.3 (IQR 0.5), p < 0.05 for all comparisons] than those that resulted from low eccentricity impacts. The developed classification functions had 92 % classification accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Dynamic axial compression loading of the cervical spine with high lateral eccentricities produced primarily soft tissue injuries resulting in more post-injury spinal flexibility in lateral bending and axial rotation than that associated with the bony fractures resulting from low eccentricity impacts.

The effect of lateral eccentricity on failure loads, kinematics, and canal occlusions of the cervical spine in axial loading.

Current neck injury criteria do not include limits for lateral bending combined with axial compression and this has been observed as a clinically relevant mechanism, particularly for rollover motor vehicle crashes. The primary objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of lateral eccentricity (the perpendicular distance from the axial force to the centre of the spine) on peak loads, kinematics, and spinal canal occlusions of subaxial cervical spine specimens tested in dynamic axial compression (0.5 m/s). Twelve 3-vertebra human cadaver cervical spine specimens were tested in two groups: low and high eccentricity with initial eccentricities of 1 and 150% of the lateral diameter of the vertebral body. Six-axis loads inferior to the specimen, kinematics of the superior-most vertebra, and spinal canal occlusions were measured. High speed video was collected and acoustic emission (AE) sensors were used to define the time of injury. The effects of eccentricity on peak loads, kinematics, and canal occlusions were evaluated using unpaired Student t-tests. The high eccentricity group had lower peak axial forces (1544 ± 629 vs. 4296 ± 1693 N), inferior displacements (0.2 ± 1.0 vs. 6.6 ± 2.0 mm), and canal occlusions (27 ± 5 vs. 53 ± 15%) and higher peak ipsilateral bending moments (53 ± 17 vs. 3 ± 18 Nm), ipsilateral bending rotations (22 ± 3 vs. 1 ± 2°), and ipsilateral displacements (4.5 ± 1.4 vs. -1.0 ± 1.3 mm, p<0.05 for all comparisons). These results provide new insights to develop prevention, recognition, and treatment strategies for compressive cervical spine injuries with lateral eccentricities.

Acoustic emission signals can discriminate between compressive bone fractures and tensile ligament injuries in the spine during dynamic loading.

Acoustic emission (AE) sensors are a reliable tool in detecting fracture; however they have not been used to differentiate between compressive osseous and tensile ligamentous failures in the spine. This study evaluated the effectiveness of AE data in detecting the time of injury of ligamentum flavum (LF) and vertebral body (VB) specimens tested in tension and compression, respectively, and in differentiating between these failures. AE signals were collected while LF (n=7) and VB (n=7) specimens from human cadavers were tested in tension and compression (0.4m/s), respectively. Times of injury (time of peak AE amplitude) were compared to those using traditional methods (VB: time of peak force, LF: visual evidence in high speed video). Peak AE signal amplitudes and frequencies (using Fourier and wavelet transformations) for the LF and VB specimens were compared. In each group, six specimens failed (VB, fracture; LF, periosteal stripping or attenuation) and one did not. Time of injury using AE signals for VB and LF specimens produced average absolute differences to traditional methods of 0.7 (SD=0.2) ms and 2.4 (SD=1.5) ms (representing 14% and 20% of the average loading time), respectively. AE signals from VB fractures had higher amplitudes and frequencies than those from LF failures (average peak amplitude 87.7 (SD=6.9) dB vs. 71.8 (SD=9.8)dB for the inferior sensor, p<0.05; median characteristic frequency from the inferior sensor 97 (interquartile range, IQR, 41) kHz vs. 31 (IQR 2) kHz, p<0.05). These findings demonstrate that AE signals could be used to delineate complex failures of the spine.