A Finite Element Model of Cerebral Vascular Injury for Predicting Microbleeds Location

Harry Duckworth, Adriana Azor, Nikolaus Wischmann, Karl Zimmerman, Ilaria Tanini, David Sharp, Mazdak Ghajari

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2022

Abstract

Finite Element (FE) models of brain mechanics have improved our understanding of the brain response to rapid mechanical loads that produce traumatic brain injuries. However, these models have rarely incorporated vasculature, which limits their ability to predict the response of vessels to head impacts. To address this shortcoming, here we used high-resolution MRI scans to map the venous system anatomy at a submillimetre resolution. We then used this map to develop an FE model of veins and incorporated it in an anatomically detailed FE model of the brain. The model prediction of brain displacement at different locations was compared to controlled experiments on post-mortem human subject heads, yielding over 3,100 displacement curve comparisons, which showed fair to excellent correlation between them. We then used the model to predict the distribution of axial strains and strain rates in the veins of a rugby player who had small blood deposits in his white matter, known as microbleeds, after sustaining a head collision. We hypothesised that the distribution of axial strain and strain rate in veins can predict the pattern of microbleeds. We reconstructed the head collision using…

Cite as (BibTeX)

@article{duckworth-2022-a-finite-element-model,
  title={A Finite Element Model of Cerebral Vascular Injury for Predicting Microbleeds Location},
  author={Harry Duckworth and Adriana Azor and Nikolaus Wischmann and Karl Zimmerman and Ilaria Tanini and David Sharp and Mazdak Ghajari},
  journal={Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology},
  year={2022},
  doi={10.3389/fbioe.2022.860112}
}