Automotive Cardio-Thoracic Injuries: A Medical-Engineering Analysis

Cardio-thoracic injuries comprise a significant segment of the injuries sustained in automobile collisions. Because of the urgent need for additional information which can lead to prevention of these injuries, The Vehicle Trauma Research group at the UCLA School of Medicine has instituted a medical-engineering study of these injuries. The study has attempted to correlate pathophysiologic aspects of the injuries with the kinematics and biomechanics of the collision. Particular attention has been paid to the effects of restraining devices and the relationship of injuries of various wheel-column configurations including “energy absorbing” designs. Sixty-seven cases have been completely analyzed to date and are presented as a preliminary pilot study illustrating the value of this type of approach to auto collision injuries.