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Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) plays a critical role in brain metabolism and protection from external forces. Traditional MRI can provide some insights into CSF dynamics; however, more advanced and cost-effective methods are needed for precise and comprehensive visualization of flow patterns, velocities, and directions in clinical settings. In this paper, we demonstrate a new application of a few open-source computer vision software packages to capture CSF motion from time spatial inversion pulse (Time-SLIP) MRI clinical images (in DICOM format). To test the hypothesis that the CSF flow depends on head motions, a reliable and robust pipeline of processing Time-SLIP MRI images is developed to extract both anatomy and CSF motion dynamics. The paper presents a methodology for extracting unsteady flow information from Time-SLIP MRI images and the results of its application. The results show that the computer vision method can be applied to extract unsteady CSF flow information. We also discuss observations and identify future areas for improvement by integrating CFD simulations for validation as a vital component for studying CSF dynamics. 

Video associated with Figure 1. 

The cerebrospinal fluid surrounds the brain and the spinal cord, and is believed to be a potential risk factor to many CNS diseases. The biomechanics of the CSF flow in the brain ventricles is poorly understood due partly to the difficulty in obtaining the flow data in vivo. This paper describes the outcomes of a computational study to examine the elastic response of the walls of the ventricles and its effects on the flow. Comparisons of the simulated results are guided by clinical data obtained with the Time-SLIP MRI, which captures ventricular CSF flows in real time in vivo.