Modelling of Cerebrospinal Fluid Flow by Computational Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

The movement of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is linked to the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The heart not only drives blood flow but is also at the origin of CSF pulsation through the expansion and contraction of cerebral blood vessels. Respiration modulates this cardiovascular action while also directly influencing spinal subarachnoid space (SAS) volume. CSF dynamics may be altered by pathologies such as hydrocephalus, Chiari malformation, syringomyelia and glioblastoma, and, in turn, dynamics of the CSF can be analysed to aid in disease diagnosis and prognosis. Several reviews delineate the current understanding of CSF motion [1–3]. This chapter describes the basic approach of and trends in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling of CSF flow.