Cerebrospinal fluid pulsation amplitude and its quantitative relationship to cerebral blood flow pulsations: a phase-contrast MR flow imaging study

Abstract

Our purpose in this investigation was to explain the heterogeneity in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow pulsation amplitudes. To this end, we determined the contributions of the cerebral arterial and jugular venous flow pulsations to the amplitude of the CSF pulsation. We examined 21 healthy subjects by cine phase-contrast MRI at the C2-3 disc level to demonstrate the CSF and vascular flows as waveforms. Multiple regression analysis was performed to calculate the contributions of (a) the arterial and venous waveform amplitudes and (b) the delay between the maximum systolic slopes of the arterial and venous waveforms (AV delay), in order to predict the amplitude of the CSF waveform. The contribution of the arterial waveform amplitude was positive (r = 0.61; p = 0.003) to the CSF waveform amplitude and that of the venous waveform amplitude was negative (r = -0.50; p = 0.006). Both in combination accounted for 56% of the variance in predicting the CSF waveform amplitude (p < 0.0006). The contribution of AV delay was not significant. The results show that the variance in the CSF flow pulsation amplitudes can be explained by concurrent evaluation of the CSF and vascular flows. Improvement in the techniques, and controlled experiments, may allow use of CSF flow pulsation amplitudes for clinical applications in the non-invasive assessment of intracranial dynamics by MRI.

Cough-Associated Changes in CSF Flow in Chiari I Malformation Evaluated by Real-Time MRI

“…Using MR imaging CSF flow measurements obtained only in resting conditions has its limitations in an individual patient with CMI for clinical decision-making because of the wide variation in quantitative estimates of CSF flow between individuals due to the confounding effects of cerebral arterial and venous flow amplitudes, intracranial compliance, and the anatomy of posterior fossa and CSF pathways. 3,8,10,26 Results presented in Table 1 confirm this notion by showing a lack of significant differences in CSF flow parameters between patients with CMI and healthy participants when their resting values were directly compared, and the postcoughing difference was seen only in the A CSF .…”

Physiology-Based MR Imaging Assessment of CSF Flow at the Foramen Magnum with a Valsalva Maneuver

“…12,22 This is likely because of a high variability in CSF flow pulsation amplitudes among patients because of differences in cerebral arterial and venous flow amplitudes, intracranial compliance, and the anatomy of CSF pathways. 7,23,24 The major benefit of our approach is that by comparing cardiac cycle-related CSF flow for a participant at rest with that during and after a Valsalva maneuver, compensatory CSF flow changes can be assessed on an individualized basis, eliminating the need to compare CSF flow across participants.…”

Quantum Dot Conjugated Magnetic Nanoparticles for Targeted Drug Delivery and Imaging

“…In our lab, we are interested in the intrathecal delivery of the nanocomposites for treatment of CNS diseases. We therefore, imposed a fluid velocity of 1.5 cm s -1 and a stroke volume of 2 mL, which are within the average ranges for CSF movement, as cited in prior literature [58,59]. Initially, we used water as the fluid in our system, because it has similar density to CSF [60].…”