Cerebrospinal fluid volumetric MRI mapping as a simple measurement for evaluating brain atrophy

Objectives To assess whether volumetric cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) MRI can be used as a surrogate for brain atrophy assessment and to evaluate how the T-2 of the CSF relates to brain atrophy.Methods Twenty-eight subjects [mean age 64 (sd 2) years] were included; T-1-weighted and CSF MRI were performed. The first echo data of the CSF MRI sequence was used to obtain intracranial volume, CSF partial volume was measured voxel-wise to obtain CSF volume (V-CSF) and the T-2 of CSF (T-2,T-CSF) was calculated. The correlation between V-CSF / T-2,T-CSF and brain atrophy scores [global cortical atrophy (GCA) and medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA)] was evaluated.Results Relative total, peripheral subarachnoidal, and ventricular V-CSF increased significantly with increased scores on the GCA and MTA (R = 0.83, 0.78 and 0.78 and R = 0.72, 0.62 and 0.86). Total, peripheral subarachnoidal, and ventricular T-2 of the CSF increased significantly with higher scores on the GCA and MTA (R = 0.72, 0.70 and 0.49 and R = 0.60, 0.57 and 0.41).Conclusion A fast, fully automated CSF MRI volumetric sequence is an alternative for qualitative atrophy scales. The T-2 of the CSF is related to brain atrophy and could thus be a marker of neurodegenerative disease.