Evaluation of intracranial compliance using phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging:An exploratory study

Objective To explore the feasibility and value of phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging （PC-MRI） technique in noninvasive evaluation of intracranial compliance. Methods From October to December in 2019,thirty young healthy volunteers （28±5 years old;17 males and 13 females） were recruited and underwent PC-MRI in the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital with same scanning parameters under different breathing conditions:normal breathing （NB） and Valsalva maneuver （VM）.The vascular areas,the relative systolic peak waveform time (rTime_peak) and the systolic transient time of the peak waveform from internal carotid artery to internal jugular vein (TT_ICA-IJV) were compared between different conditions. Results Compared to NB,during VM,the area of IJV significantly increased （40.2925.70,58.09mm² vs 52.6433.37,69.71mm²;P<0.001）,while the area of ICA decreased （19.9915.82,22.74mm² vs 18.7915.08,22.25mm²;P=0.016）.The rTime_peak of ICA delayed （213.66190.50,237.00ms vs 230.50206.00,271.00ms;P<0.001）,and the rTime_peak of IJV advanced （320.00271.00,382.25ms vs 270.253.10,5.28ms;P=0.003）,TT_ICA-IJV shortened （103.5067.25,160.25ms vs 28.005.50,49.00ms;P<0.001）,and the difference of TT_ICA-IJV between NB and VM was positively correlated with the rTime_peak of IJV in NB （r=0.75,P<0.001）. Conclusion TT_ICA-IJV and rTime_peak of IJV measured by PC-MRI have potential application value in noninvasive evaluation to intracranial compliance.