Shams Rashid1, James P. McAllister2,
Martin Schuhmann3, Mark Wagshul4
1Biomedical Engineering,
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States; 2Primary
Children's Medical Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United
States; 3Klinik fr Neurochirurgie, Eberhard Karls Universitt,
Tbingen, Germany; 4Gruss MRRC, Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
Bronx, NY, United States
Communicating hydrocephalus (CH) is characterized by elevated CSF aqueductal pulsations, and is thought to be caused by reduced intracranial compliance. This study investigates the effect of increasing intracranial compliance by decompressive craniectomy on CSF pulsatility in CH. CH is induced in rats by kaolin injection. Animals are subjected to craniectomy two weeks post induction. CSF pulsatility, measured by a cardiac gated phase contrast MR sequence, is found to decrease after craniectomy. This shows that intracranial compliance is linked to CSF pulsatility, and may play a key role in the development of CH.