Open AccessRegional Brain Tissue Displacement and Strain is Elevated in Subjects with Chiari Malformation Type I Compared to Healthy Controls: A Study Using DENSE MRI
Author(s) -
Blaise Simplice Talla Nwotchouang,
Maggie S. Eppelheimer,
Soroush Heidari Pahlavian,
Jack W Barrow,
Daniel L. Barrow,
Deqiang Qiu,
Philip A. Allen,
John N. Oshinski,
Rouzbeh Amini,
Francis Loth
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
annals of biomedical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1573-9686
pISSN - 0090-6964
DOI - 10.1007/s10439-020-02695-7
Subject(s) - cerebellum , brainstem , corpus callosum , magnetic resonance imaging , frontal lobe , anatomy , medicine , strain (injury) , lobe , chiari malformation , pathology , neuroscience , biology , radiology , syringomyelia
While the degree of cerebellar tonsillar descent is considered the primary radiologic marker of Chiari malformation type I (CMI), biomechanical forces acting on the brain tissue in CMI subjects are less studied and poorly understood. In this study, regional brain tissue displacement and principal strains in 43 CMI subjects and 25 controls were quantified using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methodology known as displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE). Measurements from MRI were obtained for seven different brain regions-the brainstem, cerebellum, cingulate gyrus, corpus callosum, frontal lobe, occipital lobe, and parietal lobe. Mean displacements in the cerebellum and brainstem were found to be 106 and 64% higher, respectively, for CMI subjects than controls (p < .001). Mean compression and extension strains in the cerebellum were 52 and 50% higher, respectively, in CMI subjects (p < .001). Brainstem mean extension strain was 41% higher in CMI subjects (p < .001), but no significant difference in compression strain was observed. The other brain structures revealed no significant differences between CMI and controls. These findings demonstrate that brain tissue displacement and strain in the cerebellum and brainstem might represent two new biomarkers to distinguish between CMI subjects and controls.