Claudiu Schirda1, Paolo Zamboni2,
Christopher Magnano1, Eric Lindzen3, David Wack1,
Bianca Weinstock-Guttman3, Deepa Ramasamy1, Ellen Carl1,
David Hojnacki3, Cheryl Kennedy1, Michael Dwyer1,
Niels Bergsland1, Jennifer Cox1, Fabrizio Salvi2,
Robert Zivadinov1,3
1Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center,
University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States; 2University of
Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy; 3The Jacobs Neurological Institute,
University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States
When
compared to white matter or gray matter, the involvement of the cerebrospinal
fluid (CSF) in the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disease has scarcely been explored
until now and typically a lumbar puncture is required. We investigate the
flow properties of the CSF in the aqueduct of Sylvius and how they relate to
other MS disease metrics, by using non-invasive MRI in a pilot study with MS
patients and healthy controls. An objective flow quantification technique
using automatic segmentation of the aqueduct was developed and was validated
on a flow phantom and scan-rescanning 4 subjects within a week.
Keywords