Quantification of normal CSF flow through the aqueduct using PC-Cine MRI at 3T

Abstract

Quantification of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow through the cerebral aqueduct is of paramount importance in patients with hydrocephalus. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the normal CSF flow measurements at three different anatomical levels of the aqueduct utilizing 3-Tesla (3 T) magnetic resonance imaging. Materials and methods: The CSF hydrodynamics in 22 healthy volunteers were evaluated. Phase-contrast cine MRI was performed on a 3 T General Electric MR system (GE Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI, USA). A cardiac-gated, flow-compensated GRE sequence with flow encoding was used, and the aqueduct was visualized using a sagittal T1 FLAIR sequence. Velocity maps were acquired at three different anatomical levels. Region-of-interest (ROI) analysis was performed. Results: CSF flow velocities were slightly increased at the upper in comparison with the lower part of the aqueduct. The mean values for the peak positive and negative velocity and the mean average flow were calculated for both ROIs. Discussion/Conclusions: CSF peak positive velocity, peak negative velocity, and mean flow through the aqueduct were calculated in 22 young healthy volunteers performed at 3 T. Our measurements did not show significant difference compared with the reported measurements obtained at 1.5 T. Slight differences were observed in the CSF hydrodynamic measurements, depending on the anatomical level of the aqueduct; however, they did not vary significantly.