Real-Time Imaging of Cerebrospinal Fluid Flow with Low-Rank and Subspace Modeling

Quantification of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow is critical for studying the physiological and pathological mechanisms of CSF dynamics and related neurological diseases. Conventional cine phase-contrast MRI provides an effective tool to quantify CSF flow, however, this method is not suitable for evaluating beat-by-beat flow variabilities associated with cardiac arrhythmia and/or respiratory regulation. This work presents a real-time flow MRI method at a spatial resolution of 0.5 mm and temporal resolution of 52 ms for assessment of CSF flow in cerebral aqueduct at 3T, which can well resolve beat-by-beat CSF flow variations. Its feasibility has been demonstrated in multiple healthy subjects.