Review of studies on Mechanical Performance of Spinal Cord in Traumatic Injuries

Considering the extent of the disability caused by spinal cord injury and the increasing incidence of it, many attempts have been made to understand how this lesion is repaired. Most of the spinal cord injuries are traumatic injuries. The annual incidence of this damage is estimated between 15-40 cases per million people worldwide. Considering the extent of this incident, the need for study of the effects of spinal cord injuries, in particular, in traumatic injuries, is necessary. Due to the ethical and practical difficulties and limitations, as well as the high cost of performing empirical studies on the living and corpse, the use of finite element modeling is a powerful and complementary tool for the study of spinal biomechanics. This method is able to predict how the spinal cord gets injured in different loads and whether one can determine the amount of spinal cord strain and the critical level for spinal cord injuries. Such prediction can play an important role in treating these lesions and improving patients. This study, reviews the previous studies about finite element analysis on the spinal cord. Different aspects of finite element model include methods of its modeling, determination of mechanical properties, loading injury determination of spinal cord have been presented. The results of these studies are compared in order to provide accurate model in future.