Instrumented artificial spinal cord for human cervical pressure measurement

Spinal cord injuries continue to generate large individual and societal costs. The study of spinal cord injury has been undertaken from the perspective of animal studies to understand cord functioning, and from the use of cadaver material to understand ligamentous column failure. The present study was conducted to develop a tool to link results from both these methods of research. An instrumented artificial spinal cord was designed, constructed, and evaluated under different testing scenarios. Properties of the in vivo animal cord were obtained using the dorsal impact method and reproduced in a collagen-encased gelatin physical model. The cord was instrumented in seven places using thin, non-invasive piezo-electric pressure sensors. The instrumented artificial cord was then evaluated in the canal of a human cadaver head-neck column under dynamic loading conditions. A C5 compression fracture correlated to high local pressure changes. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using this new tool to understand the mechanisms of spinal cord injury.