A part of carrying out tests with cadavers (whole body) is to inject the arterial system. It can be done before the test, before and during the test, or even after the test. The characteristics of the liquid injected allow three aims to be reached: First of all, it is a liquid providing an initial physiologic arterial pressure. Secondly, the liquid is coloured using an additive solution in order to facilitate the identification of the vascular injuries during the autopsy. Thirdly, as the last property, the liquid has to fix the tissues.
For this study, the choice has been made to inject the cadaver before, during, and after the test. To do this, a device has been specially designed corresponding to the following initial request,s keeping in mind that “ simplicity is the best way to obtain reliability particularly when the acceleration level that can be reached is close to 30g”: (1) Injected volume max equal to 4 litres (mix of ethanol with Indian ink); (2) Remote control of the beginning of the injection that becomes autonomous when the test is started; (3) Compressed air propelling system providing a linear pressure; (4) Separating membrane between the liquid compartment and the air compartment; (5) No loading due to the separating membrane deformation; (6) Auto-static device ending the injection when the tank of ethanol/Indian ink is empty; (7) Robustness of the device having to endure acceleration up to 30g.
This paper deals with the following: Principles of the technique, description of the device (R2D2, Remote Revascularization Dynamic Device), validation tests of the device, cadaver dynamic tests and results, and dissection. Revascularization was performed on six cadavers during crash tests using R2D2. The injection pressure was determined to be stable during the tests. The auto-static termination of the injection works well, no leakage occurred, and no part of the device was destroyed. The quality of injection that was checked during the autopsies appeared to be satisfactory. The most difficult part of the process was to determine the level of the air pressure that, finally, defines the initial vascular pressure before the beginning of the test.