ASSESSMENT OF THE BIOMECHANICAL STATE OF INTRACRANIAL TISSUES BY DYNAMIC MRI OF CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID PULSATIONS - A PHANTOM STUDY

We used a cranial phantom to investigate how intracranial mechanical f actors [brain compliance and the resistance to the flow of cerebrospin al fluid (CSF)] affect the way in which CSF pulsations are driven by p ulsatile transcranial blood flow. Dynamic phase-contrast magnetic reso nance imaging (MRI) was used to measure the transfer function between vascular pulsations and pulsatile response of the CSF below the forame n magnum of the phantom. We found that the coupling between the high f requency components of cervical CSF flow and transcranial blood flow w as decreased when the phantom was modified to simulate increased brain compliance and increased resistance to CSF flow. (C) 1998 Elsevier Sc ience Inc.