Effect of impounder contact area on experimental spinal cord injury

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Abstract
The spinal cords of 2 groups of dogs were subjected to 500 g-cm impacts using 2 different configurations of impounders. The impounders varied only in area of contact with the dural surface. All other parameters were kept constant. With 1 impounder all of the dogs injured were toally paraplegic. The impounder consistently producing total paraplegia straddled the entire width of the dorsal surface of the spinal cord in a manner corresponding to the posterior arch of a vertebra. The injury produced with this impounder is not only consistently reproducible but bears a closer resemblance to clinical injury such as anterior vertebral dislocation than that produced with a smaller impounder.