Deformation of Dorsal Root Ganglion Due to Pressure Transients of Venous Blood and Cerebrospinal Fluid in the Cervical Vertebral Canal

The dorsal root ganglion (DRG) that is embedded in the foramen of the cervical vertebra can be injured during a whiplash motion. A potential cause is that whilst the neck bends in the whiplash motion, the changes of spinal canal volume induce impulsive pressure transients in the venous blood outside the dura mater (DM) and in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) inside the DM. The fluids can dynamically interact with the DRG and DM, which are deformable. In this work, the interaction is investigated numerically using a strong-coupling partitioned method that synchronize the computations of the fluid and structure.
Source: Journal of Biomechanics - Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Source Type: research