The compressive stiffness of XXXX pediatric heads.

@entity1 @entity542
UNASSIGNED: @entity542 is a persistent and costly problem for both @entity1 and adults. Globally, approximately 10 million @entity1 are hospitalized each year for @entity542 . Knowing the structural properties of the head is important for modeling the response of the head in impact, and for providing insights into mechanisms of @entity542 . Hence, the goal of this study was to measure the sub-injurious structural stiffness of whole pediatric heads. 12 cadaveric pediatric (20-week-gestation to 16 years old) heads were tested in a battery of viscoelastic compression tests. The heads were compressed in both the lateral and anterior-posterior directions to 5% of gauge length at normalized deformation rates of 0.0005/s, 0.01/s, 0.1/s, and 0.3/s. Because of the non-linear nature of the response, linear regression models were used to calculate toe region (<2.5%) and elastic region (>2.5%) stiffness separately so that meaningful comparisons could be made across rate, age, and direction. The results showed that age was the dominant factor in predicting the structural stiffness of the @entity1 head. A large and statistically significant increase in the stiffness of both the toe region and the elastic region was observed with increasing age (p<0.0001), but no significant difference was seen across direction or normalized deformation rate. The stiffness of the elastic region increased from as low as 5N/mm in the neonate to >4500N/mm in the 16 year old. The changes in stiffness with age may be attributed to the disappearance of soft sutures and the thickening of skull bones with age.
