Blood and CSF Dynamics During One Cardiac Cycle in the Healthy Brain Measured with Cine Phase-Contrast MRI

Motivation: Quantitative analysis of blood and CSF flow dynamics is vital to understand the intracranial pulsating fluid movement environment and its role in brain homeostasis. Goal(s): To characterize the correlation between blood (arterial/venous) and CSF flow within one cardiac cycle. Approach: Flow dynamic measurements in neck arteries and veins, cervical CSF (CSFc) and CSF in the aqueduct of Sylvius (CSFAq) were obtained using cine phase-contrast MRI from 18 healthy volunteers. Results: Net blood and CSFc flow wave curves depict a compensatory mechanism resulting in balance of total fluid inflow and outflow. CSFAq flow patterns mimic CSFc ones with some temporal delay. Impact: Understanding how blood and CSF flow influence each other in healthy subjects provides a reference frame to investigate alterations caused by neurological disease. We showed a dynamic interplay between neck blood and CSF flow at the cervical and aqueduct level.