Paravascular Fluid Dynamics Reveal Arterial Stiffness Assessed using Dynamic Diffusion-Weighted Imaging (dDWI)

We recently developped a novel technique, dynamic diffusion-weighted imaging (dDWI), for measuring paravascular cerebrospinal fluid (pCSF) dynamics. In this work, we evaluated the time shifts between the pulsation-driven pCSF waves (measured by dDWI) and finger pulse waves (measured by scanner’s built-in finger pulse oximeter) to calculate brain-finger pulse wave travel time. Our preliminary results of an aging cohort support that the dDWI-derived brain-finger TimeDelay can be a surrogate for arterial stiffness. This method can be used as an add-on analysis to the recently developed dDWI framework to offer information about the participant’s vascular conditions.