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Bulk Flow of Cerebrospinal Fluid in the Cervicothoracic Spine
Andrew E Roman1, Jakob P Perivolotis1, Molly M McElvogue1
1From the Department of Neuroradiology, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ 85013, USA; Department of Psychology (A.E.R.), School of Earth and Space Exploration (J.P.P.), Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy (J.P.P.), University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; School of Medicine (J.J.K.), Creighton University, Department of Radiology and Imaging Services (J.J.K.), CommonSpirit Health, Phoenix, AZ 85012, USA; Departamento de Ingeniería Térmica y de Fluidos (W.C.), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28911, Leganés, Spain; Fetal and Neonatal Institute (M.T.B.), Division of Neonatology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA90027, USA; Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering (M.T.B.), Viterbi School of Engineering, Department of Regulatory and Quality Sciences (M.T.B.), Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA.
Abstract:
Unknown patterns within cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow complicate the understanding and treatment of neurological disease. Previous research using phase-contrast MRI purported that CSF in the spine exhibited a pattern of flow toward the cranium in wider areas and caudal flow in more narrow areas. By performing the non-invasive CSF tagging technique, TimeSTAMP MRI (4,480 discrete measurements in 17 patients) and visualizing all CSF displacement measurement in an overlaid fashion, stratified by location along the spine, we report bulk caudal flow in the anterior cervicothoracic spine and rostral flow in the posterior cervicothoracic spine. This supports the presence of distinct CSF currents relative to location along the spine.
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