Technical Paper
A Finite Element-Based Injury Metric for Pulmonary Contusion: Investigation of Candidate Metrics Through Correlation with Computed Tomography
2007-10-29
2007-22-0009
Pulmonary contusion (PC) is the most common thoracic soft tissue injury following non-penetrating blunt trauma and has been associated with mortality rates as high as 25%. This study is part of an ongoing effort to develop finite element-based injury criteria for PC. The aims of this study are twofold. The first is to investigate the use of computed tomography (CT) to quantify the volume of pathologic lung tissue in a prospective study of PC. The second is to use a finite element model (FEM) of the lung to investigate several mathematical predictors of contusion to determine the injury metric that best matches the spatial distribution of contusion obtained from the CT analysis. PC is induced in-situ utilizing male Sprague Dawley rats (n = 24) through direct impact to the right lung at 5.0 m•s-1. Force versus deflection data are collected and used for model validation and optimization. CT scans are taken at 24 hours, 48 hours, 1 week, and 1 month postcontusion.