Dickey Grant J, Bian Kewei, Khan Habib R, Mao Haojie
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Comput Methods Biomech Biomed Engin. 2022 Feb;25(3):247-256. doi: 10.1080/10255842.2021.1948022. Epub 2021 Jul 28.
Commotio cordis is a sudden death mechanism that occurs when the heart is impacted during the repolarization phase of the cardiac cycle. This study aimed to investigate commotio cordis injury metrics by correlating chest force and rib deformation to left ventricle strain and pressure. We simulated 128 chest impacts using a simulation matrix which included two initial velocities, 16 impact locations spread across the transverse and sagittal plane, and four baseball stiffness levels. Results showed that an initial velocity of 17.88 m/s and an impact location over the left ventricle was the most damaging setting across all possible settings, causing the most considerable left ventricle strain and pressure increases. The impact force metric did not correlate with left ventricle strain and pressure, while rib deformations located over the left ventricle were strongly correlated to left ventricle strain and pressure. These results lead us to the recommendation of exploring new injury metrics such as the rib deformations we have highlighted for future commotio cordis safety regulations.
心脏震荡是一种猝死机制，发生于心动周期复极化阶段心脏受到撞击时。本研究旨在通过将胸部受力和肋骨变形与左心室应变及压力相关联，来探究心脏震荡损伤指标。我们使用一个模拟矩阵模拟了128次胸部撞击，该矩阵包括两个初始速度、横跨横切面和矢状面的16个撞击位置以及四种棒球硬度水平。结果显示，在所有可能的条件中，初始速度为17.88米/秒且撞击位置在左心室上方是最具破坏性的条件，会导致左心室应变和压力出现最显著的增加。撞击力指标与左心室应变和压力不相关，而位于左心室上方的肋骨变形与左心室应变和压力密切相关。这些结果促使我们建议探索新的损伤指标，比如我们所强调的肋骨变形，用于未来心脏震荡安全法规的制定。
