Localisation of Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract: TBI stands for Traumatic Brain Injury and refers to damage to the brain resulting from an external physical force, such as a blow, jolt, or penetrating injury to the head. Common causes of TBI include falls, motor vehicle accidents, sports injuries, and violence and has been linked to thousands of deaths and injuries in the US and the EU alike. This thesis was aimed to localise certain TBI to a specific part of the brain by exerting similar loading conditions on an Finite Element Method (FEM) of the rat brain as physical experiments conducted on living rats. By comparing the strain in 7 vital parts of the brain to injury diagnosis conducted in the physical experiments, an effort was made to link localised strain to injury diagnosis. The results indicate that strain in the thalamus and hypothalamus are linked with a loss of consciousness while strain in the hypothalamus coupled with the neocortex correlates greatly with activity-based behaviour changes. Lastly, injury associated with emotional changes are believed to stem from large strains in the neocortex. There is a theory suggesting that the structure of myeline, which provides support in motion and movement patterns of biological systems in humans and animals (known as biomechanical kinematics), could have an impact. However, more studies are needed to confirm and determine the exact cause.