A mechanistic approach for intracranial pressure (ICP) level estimation

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Imaging
• Computational Mechanics

Background:

• Abnormally increased intracranial pressure (ICP) necessitates accurate diagnosis for effective management.
• Current diagnostic methods for ICP are invasive, posing risks and limitations.
• Non-invasive techniques for ICP estimation are highly sought after in clinical practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a non-invasive method for estimating intracranial pressure (ICP) levels.
• To utilize readily available MRI measurements for ICP estimation.
• To provide a low-risk, cost-effective alternative to invasive ICP diagnostics.

Main Methods:

• A mechanistic model of intracranial pulsatility was employed, integrating brain solid mechanics and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics.
• The model was personalized using brain displacement and blood/CSF data.
• A harmonic balance method was utilized for efficient ICP level estimation.

Main Results:

• The non-invasive method demonstrated high accuracy with a relative ICP level estimate error of less than 0.4% on synthetic data.
• The method achieved a speed-up of over six times compared to classical optimization techniques.
• The approach proved robust against significant noise and variations in spatial and temporal resolutions.

Conclusions:

• The proposed method offers a high-fidelity, non-invasive approach for estimating ICP levels.
• This technique has the potential to significantly improve the diagnosis of ICP-related conditions.
• Facilitates safer and more economical clinical assessment of intracranial pressure.