These proceedings include the Technical Evaluation Report, a Keynote Address, and 23 invited papers, of the Specialists' Meeting sponsored jointly by the AGARD Aerospace Medical Panel, the Stapp Car Crash Conference Advisory Committee and the Society of Automotive Engineers. It was held at Mescalero, NM, from 7-9 November 1996. Severe head injury resulting from vehicular accidents is a major concern to military and civilian health care workers. Significant advances have been made in the understanding of the causes of severe brain injury and in the factors, both direct and indirect, that contribute to the pathophysiological changes that follow from a severe head injury. Moreover, advances in design and the proper use of countermeasures can significantly reduce head injuries causing death. This Specialists' Meeting addressed the issues of severe head injury from the point of view of: (a) the dynamic response of the head during impacts; (h) brain injury mechanisms in diffuse axonal injury; (c) physical and computer models for assessing injury severity; (d) human tolerance and injury criteria; (e) head injury assessment and treatment; (f) epidemiology in head injury mishaps; (g) harmonization and enforcement of standards for protective head gear; (h) personal protective systems in aircraft; and (i) computer simulations for optimizing head impact protective designs. These proceedings will be of interest to military and civilian medical professionals, accident investigators, safety engineers and research scientists concerned with safety issues in vehicular crash protection. They will also benefit the research manager and scientist or flight surgeon requiring a state-of-the-art review of relevant research in the field of impact head protection. (A)
Samenvatting