A Review on Injury Mechanism of Intracerebral Hemorrhage in Vehicle Accidents.

BACKGROUND: Intracerebral hemorrhage is one of the most common injuries in vehicle accidents. The aim of this paper is to survey the injury mechanism of intracerebral hemorrhage in vehicle accidents, including contusion, subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), subdural hematoma (SDH) and diffuse axonal injury (DAI).

METHODS: A condensed overview is given based on the published studies in biomechanical studies on intracerebral hemorrhage. Animal tests, cadaver tests, accident investigations and numerical simulation are the main method used for the mechanism studies.

RESULTS: Angular velocity and acceleration can be used to predict these injuries and they are the main causation of DAI. Intracranial pressure is the main causation of coup/contrecoup contusion. Shear stress and strain contribute to the rupture of bridging veins that result in SDH, SAH.

CONCLUSION: Injury mechanism of intracerebral hemorrhage in vehicle accidents is complicated that with multiple causations. In-depth works need to be carried out in mechanism studies especially for child head injuries.