Imaging blood to periarterial CSF flow coupling using 4D flow MRI and an ultra-high-performance head-only gradient system

作者：Tomas Vikner, Leonardo A. Rivera‐Rivera, Zaynab S. Yardim, Brock Jolicoeur, Steven Kecskemeti, Kevin M. Johnson · 发表于：Fluids and Barriers of the CNS · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1186/s12987-025-00743-9 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications、Cerebrospinal fluid and hydrocephalus、MRI in cancer diagnosis

BACKGROUND: Periarterial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow has been hypothesized to contribute to brain waste clearance but is poorly understood. Animal studies suggest arterial pulsatility drives perivascular CSF in the direction of cerebral arterial blood flow (CBF), but human validation has relied on MRI approaches that do not inform on flow-directionality. Here, we use a high-performance gradient system enabling low velocity encoding (Venc) 4D flow MRI, to characterize cardiac-driven periarterial CSF flow and CBF-to-CSF flow coupling. METHODS: Healthy participants (N = 10) underwent high resolution (0.8 mm isotropic) 4D flow MRI of blood (Venc = 120 cm/s) and CSF (Venc = 1.0 cm/s) on a 3.0T head-only system (MAGNUS, GE Healthcare; Gmax = 300mT/m, Smax = 750T/m/s). Images were reconstructed using local low rank (LLR) constrained parallel imaging and background field corrected using iterative, complex domain fitting. Luminal blood and associated periarterial CSF waveforms were extracted along the left and right anterior (ACA A1), middle (MCA M1 and M2), and posterior (PCA P2) cerebral arteries using a centerline approach, and characterized individually by amplitude and stroke volume and jointly by coupling coefficients from maximum cross-correlation ([Formula: see text]) and time-lags. RESULTS: For low Venc 4D flow MRI, MAGNUS dramatically reduced the echo time and temporal resolution compared to whole-body systems. CBF and CSF measurements were successful in 61/80 locations (...