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Failure and Fatigue Properties of Immature Human and Porcine Parasagittal Bridging Veins

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Abstract

Tearing of the parasagittal bridging veins (BVs) is thought to be a source of extra-axial hemorrhage (EAH) associated with abusive traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in children. However, the pediatric BV mechanical properties are unknown. We subjected porcine adult, porcine newborn, and human infant BVs to either a low rate pull to failure, a high rate pull to failure, or 30 s of cyclic loading followed by a pull to failure. An additional subset of human infant BVs was examined for viscoelastic recovery between two cycling episodes. We found that human infant BVs are stronger than porcine BVs, and BV mechanical properties are rate dependent, but not age dependent. Successive cyclic loading to a uniform level of stretch softened BVs with decaying peak stresses, and shifted their stress–stretch relationship. These data are critical in understanding BV tissue behavior in accidental and abusive trauma scenarios, which in turn may clarify circumstances that may be injurious to young children.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the families who consented to provide autopsy specimens of their young children for research purposes. We would also like to thank Dr. Lucy Rorke-Adams, Jill Ralston, George Bratinov, and Kevin Browne for their technical assistance procuring vessels. Support was provided by the American Heart Association (12PRE12040315), the National Institutes of Health (R21 HD078842), and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Critical Care Fund.

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  1. Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, 240 Skirkanich Hall, 210 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6321, USA

    Stephanie A. Pasquesi & Susan S. Margulies

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  1. Stephanie A. Pasquesi
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Correspondence to Susan S. Margulies.

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Associate Editor Joel D. Stitzel oversaw the review of this article.

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Pasquesi, S.A., Margulies, S.S. Failure and Fatigue Properties of Immature Human and Porcine Parasagittal Bridging Veins. Ann Biomed Eng 45, 1877–1889 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-017-1833-5

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