Baboons were whiplashed to measure intracranial pressure (ICP) in whiplash, to correlate ICP to linear and angular head acceleration, and to determine if head restraint configuration altered ICP. Clinical, biochemical, physiological, and pathological observations were made. Intracranial pressure increased in whiplashed baboons, and is temporally related to translational and rotational head accelerations. With different head restraint configurations, the pressure increases are smallest when using a vertical restraint minimizing head movement, and are not reduced by partial restraints. There may be some correlation between EEG, clinical, and gross pathologic observations, and the use of the various restraints, but EKG, heart rate, and biochemical measurements were not significant.
Abstract