Appropriate skull–brain interface modeling for finite element head models

Determine the appropriate skull–brain interface modeling approach in finite element head models, including how to represent and couple the skull, cerebrospinal fluid, and brain tissues, so that predicted brain responses and the influence of cortical folds on mild traumatic brain injury metrics are accurately captured.

Background

The paper compares gyrencephalic and lissencephalic subject-specific finite element head models and finds that modeling cortical folds significantly affects predicted injury metrics and their spatial distributions. In reviewing prior literature, the authors note that differing modeling choices across studies, including how the skull–brain interface is represented (e.g., CSF modeling, inclusion of pia mater), may partly explain conflicting findings on whether cortical folds increase or decrease predicted strains.

Within this context, the authors explicitly identify that the choice of skull–brain interface modeling remains unresolved in the field and emphasize that this choice can substantially alter brain responses and the inferred effect of cortical folds. Hence, establishing a justified, accurate interface modeling approach is a key open issue for predictive head injury simulations.