Accuracy and reproducibility of phase-contrast MR imaging measurements for CSF flow.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE PCMR, widely used for the evaluation of blood flow, has been adopted for the assessment of cerebrospinal fluid flow in a variety of disorders. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of 2 fast PCMR techniques for measuring CSF flow. MATERIALS AND METHODS Velocities were calculated from RPC and CPC images of fluid flowing in a tube at a constant velocity. Error and the COV were computed for average and peak velocities. Additionally, measurements of sinusoidally fluctuating flow and of CSF flow in 5 healthy volunteers were acquired with the RPC and CPC acquisitions. RESULTS For constant velocity experiments, error for the RPC and CPC acquisitions averaged +1.15% and +8.91% and COVs averaged 1.29% and 3.01%, respectively. For peak velocities of >or=12.6 cm/s, error with RPC or CPC ranged from -33.3% to -36.9% and COVs were 0%-4% for RPC and 1%-7% for CPC. For peak velocities of 250%. For fluctuating flow, both acquisitions showed similar flow patterns. In volunteer studies, peak systolic and diastolic velocities were not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS The RPC and CPC sequences measure velocities on the order of CSF flow with an average error of >or=9%. The 2 techniques significantly overestimate peak velocities <6.4 cm/s, with maximum errors of 209% and 276% and maximum COVs of 100% and 73% for the RPC and CPC sequences, respectively. Measurements of CSF velocities in human volunteers and of sinusoidally fluctuating phantom velocities did not differ significantly between the 2 techniques.