CSF Flow Study in MRI

CSF Flow Study in MRI
A “CSF Flow Study” is an MRI of the brain or spine that evaluates the flow of cerebrospinal fluid around the brain, brainstem and/or spinal cord.

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CSF Flow Study is an increasingly important tool that allows us to measure the velocity of cerebral spinal fluid as it flows from the cerebral ventricles (fluid reservoirs) inside the brain, down to the skull base via the cerebral aqueduct, and to the spinal canal via the fourth ventricle and foramen magnum”. Cerebral spinal fluid is continually produced within the center of the brain, (about 500 cc/day) and is continually reabsorbed at a number of locations along the surface of the brain. There are a number of events, and disease states that can significantly alter the velocity and behavior of CSF over time, these shifts are visible via the CSF waveform obtained through the MRI study. CSF is not a static fluid; it is continuously flowing back and forth between the head and the spine. The direction of flow is determined by the cardiac cycle. When the heart maximally contracts to pump blood out of its chambers and to the head and body (the systolic phase) the brain becomes engorged with blood, and as it temporarily swells up, ventricles filled with CSF are squeezed. This action pumps CSF downward towards the skull base and spine. Conversely, when the heart relaxes (the diastolic phase) blood fills the atria and the cerebral ventricles relax, which causes CSF flow to reverse its direction and the fluid flows upward from the upper spine and skull base, into the center of the brain again. Because of this cycling spinal fluid is pulsatile; its movement is determined by pulsation of the heart.