Phillip Robert Perrinez1, S. Scott Lollis2, Francis E. Kennedy1, John B. Weaver1,3, Ketih D. Paulsen1,4
1Thayer School of Engineering, Hanover, NH, USA; 2Neurosurgery, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, USA; 3Radiology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, USA; 4Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, USA
Magnetic resonance poroelastography (MRPE) has been developed as an alternative to linearly elastic MR elastography techniques. This approach models tissue comprised of two distinct phases; a porous elastic solid and penetrating fluid. MRE image data were acquired for a series of feline subjects at varying degrees of hydrocephaly resulting from induced ventricular obstruction. Estimates of the time-harmonic pore-pressure distribution across the feline brain were computed, the magnitude of which was found to be associated with ventricular dilatation - a surrogate for increased intracranial pressure. The average whole-brain shear modulus was not found to vary significantly with hydrostatic pressure.