Kezhou Wang1,
Xinjian Du2, Wei Sun3, Hagai Ganin4, Yi Sui4,
5, Lauren Ostergren1, Fady T. Charbel, William G. Bradley6,
Xiaohong Joe Zhou7, 8
1VasSol
Inc., River Forest, IL, United States; 2Neurosurgery, University
of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; 3GE
Healthcare, Waukesha, WI, United States; 4Center for MR Research,
University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, Chicago, IL,
United States; 5Department of Bioengineering, University of
Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, Chicago, IL, United States; 6Department
of Radiology, UCSD Medical Center, San Diego, CA, United States; 7Center
for MR Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United
States; 8Departments of Radiology, University of Illinois at
Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
Quantitative flow measurement of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) through the sylvian aqueduct is important for diagnostic and therapeutic decisions in communicating hydrocephalus. Accurate and reliable flow quantification of CSF has been challenging because of the very low flow rate as well as flow reversal within a cardiac cycle. In this study, an MR method based on phase contrast has been developed, optimized, and validated in a flow phantom and healthy human volunteers at 3 Tesla. The quantitative flow error was confined within 8%, and the net flow rates were determined to be between 3.6 and 6.6 L/cycle, which agree with the literature values obtained using alternative techniques. The ability of accurately and reliably measuring CSF flow is expected to enable future studies in patients with communicating hydrocephalus.
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