Quantifying the Relationship Between Brain Biomechanics and Warfighter-Relevant Head Exposures to Guide Future Injury Prevention Technologies
Abstract
The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) reported over 400,000 traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) among U.S. Service Members between 2000 and 2020, with the vast majority of those TBIs being classified as closed-head mild TBI stemming from falls, vehicle crashes, and tertiary effects from blast exposure. In addition to health-related consequences experienced during an acute mild TBI a head impact with neurological impairment experienced on the battlefield could jeopardize the mission and can exacerbate the risks normally associated these activities. Although the clinical importance of TBI is widely recognized, a complete understanding of the mechanisms that produce injury remains elusive. For mild-to-moderate diffuse-type brain injuries (e.g., concussion), brain deformation (how the tissue stretches and changes shape) has been the prevailing hypothesis for initiating the mechanisms of the acute and chronic consequences of TBI. However, the relationships between brain deformation and the inciting head motion, with or without direct impact to the head, are less understood. To develop novel strategies for TBI mitigation and management, engineers require exposure-risk assessments based on accurate biomechanics to design and evaluate safety countermeasures and protective equipment, and actively monitor head health to identify Service Members who may have been exposed to TBI. Our proposed work will provide experimental data and computational models that will significantly improve our understanding of brain biomechanics and guide the development of future injury monitoring and prevention technology. Therefore, the objective of this study is to quantify relationships between brain biomechanics and Warfighter-relevant head exposures and identify novel strategies for monitoring Warfighter head health using wearable sensors, with the goal of guiding future injury prevention technologies. This proposal features research that primarily addresses topics associated with two of the Fiscal Year 2021 Investigator-Initiated Research Award Focus Areas: Understand and Prevent. Within the Understand Focus Area, we have designed our study to address knowledge gaps within foundational science that links head impact exposures to the biomechanical mechanisms that initiate traumatic brain injury. Within this Focus Area, our research primarily addresses two sub-areas: 1) understanding of the biomechanical responses of the brain under Warfighter-relevant head exposures; and 2) understanding of bulk tissue, axonal, and cerebrovasculature mechanics during injurious exposures using computational models. In addition to providing a better fundamental understanding of TBI mechanisms using experimental and computational models, this research effort will lead to advances that are associated with the Prevent Focus Area through the investigation of Warfighter-relevant wearable sensors for monitoring head health and potentially injurious head kinematic exposures. Within this Focus Area, our research primarily addresses four sub-areas: 1) identifying suitable wearable kinematic sensor platforms for monitoring of Warfighter brain injuries and repetitive exposures; 2) translating sensor outputs to biomechanical conditions in the brain; 3) quantifying relationships between kinematic exposure and brain injury risk to establish guidelines for assessing neuroprotective equipment, including helmets; and 4) developing computational tools for accurate assessments of injury risk resulting from head kinematic exposures. The research generated in this study will lead to new approaches and tools designed to prevent, monitor, and mitigate TBI through the characterization of biomechanical mechanisms in the brain and assessment of wearable sensors for monitoring head health. Our proposed work will improve our understanding of brain biomechanics during injurious head impacts, thereby supporting future clinical advancements along two paths: 1) reducing the incidence and
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Dec 28, 2022
- Source ID
- W81XWH2210943
Entities
People
- Matthew B Panzer
Organizations
- United States Army
- University of Virginia