MRI Based Volumetry of Intra- and Extracerebral CSF Spaces

We describe a hybrid approach to the volumetry of intracerebral and entire intracranial CSF spaces, combining two imaging techniques. Ultra-fast and reproducible quantification of intracranial liquor volumes is carried out based on T2-weighted MR images. Isotropic T1-weighted data is used as a basis for robust semi-automatic three-dimensional segmentation procedures. Variability of the proposed method, including image acquisition, is evaluated on volunteers and phantoms to be well below 2 %. The total time required for image analysis including interaction is below 5 minutes.