In vivo 4D visualization of CSF flow: healthy volunteers and hydrocephalus

Introduction. In vivo assessment of cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) flow velocities and flow patterns is a challenging task, due to the magnetic properties of the tissue that lead to very low signal in T1-weighted sequences. However, flow patterns can be an important discriminating factor between healthy subjects and hydrocephalus patients. Single-slice and multi-slice acquisitions, relying on inflow enhancement, and computational fluid dynamics techniques based on anatomical data, were used in the literature [1]. In this work, we used a threedimensional, time-resolved, three-directional flow-sensitive balanced SSFP sequence [2] to obtain a full three-dimensional description of CSF flow patterns in the brain of healthy volunteers and to compare it to findings in a patient with a three-ventricular hydrocephalus.