Hydrocephalus detection using intrinsically-activated MRE

Introduction: Hydrocephalus (HC) is a disease characterized by obstruction of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow in either the lateral ventricles (noncommunicating) or subarachnoid space (communicating), resulting in an increase in ventricular size and a subsequent increase in intracranial pressure (ICP). Currently, magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography assist in diagnosis, but these imaging studies only detect ventricular enlargement, which can be confused with cerebral atrophy or periventricular leukomalacia where the ventriculomegaly instead results from shrinkage of the periventricular white matter. Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) may be able to differentiate these two types of ventricular enlargement based on poroelastic mechanical property differences, thus offering a new imaging signature for definitive HC diagnosis. In this report, a previously described ‘intrinsic activation’ method was applied to estimate poroelastic brain tissue mechanical properties in a series of patients suffering from HC. Results from the HC patient group were compared with the poroelastic mechanical property responses from a set of normal controls.