Cerebrospinal fluid dynamics and relation with blood flow - A magnetic resonance study with semiautomated cerebrospinal fluid segmentation

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES. TO investigate and measure temporal and amplitude aspects of blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow waveform relations. METHODS. A cine phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging pulse sequence wa s used to measure blood and CSF flow in 16 healthy subjects aged 27 +/- 4 y ears. A semiautomated segmentation algorithm was developed to study CSF flo w. RESULTS. Standard deviations of the aqueductal and cervical how measurement s carried out by five observers were 1% and 4%, respectively. The peak syst olic arterial dow was 1087 +/- 169 mL/min, and the peak cervical CSF flush (173 +/- 59 mL/min) occurred at 5% +/- 3% of the cardiac cycle after the in ternal carotid systolic peak how. Peak aqueductal flush flow (13 +/- 5 mL/m in) occurred at 21% +/- 7% of the cardiac cycle after the internal carotid systolic peak how. CONCLUSIONS. The CSF segmentation algorithm is reproducible. Brain expansio n was quickly regulated by a major extracerebral CSF flush flow, whereas ve ntricular CSF made only a very small contribution.