Higher Overall Pulsatile CSF flow Variance in Congenital Heart Disease Predict Poor Executive Function

Motivation: Examine cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow abnormalities in congenital heart disease (CHD) and develop an evaluation method to measure the CSF flow variance over the entire CSF flow cycle. Goal(s): Determine CSF flow difference between CHD and healthy controls. Evaluate effectiveness of new method to measure CSF flow variance. Approach: Use phase contrast MRI to acquire CSF flow velocity over the pulsatile flow cycle. Model consensus CSF flow of study cohort and calculate each participant’s flow variance using root mean square deviation. Results: CHD had greater pulsatile CSF flow variance, especially in CHD with single ventricle. Higher flow variance predicted poor working memory outcomes. Impact: This study expands our understanding of CSF flow abnormality in CHD and its potential for predicting executive function deficit. A new method measuring CSF flow variance over the entire flow cycle offers an evaluation of CSF flow abnormalities more comprehensively.