Brain hydrodynamics study by phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging and transcranial color doppler.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the contributions of phase-contrast magnetic resonance (PCMR) and transcranial color Doppler (TCCD) imaging in the investigation of cerebral hydrodynamics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 13 healthy subjects were studied. Blood velocity measurements were performed with TCCD and gated PCMR imaging in major intracranial and extracranial arteries stages. Peak systolic velocity and end-diastolic velocity were extracted to establish correlations between TCCD and PCMR imaging. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) and intracranial volume change (IVC) during the cardiac cycle were calculated, taking into account cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) oscillations. RESULTS: Despite an underestimation of velocities with PCMR imaging, significant correlations were observed for velocity measurements between the two modalities in extracranial vessels, but were poorly correlated in intracranial vessels. PCMR data processing gave a mean CBF of 690+/-90 mL/minute. CONCLUSION: PCMR imaging provides complementary information to TCCD to assess various intracranial parameters such as instantaneous velocities, blood and CSF flow distributions, volume variation, or pressure regulation mechanisms during cardiac cycles.