Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb;36(1):3-14.
doi: 10.1007/s10334-022-01043-1. Epub 2022 Oct 15.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the pulsing brain: a systematic review

Alanoud Almudayni  1   2 , Meshal Alharbi  3   4 , Alimul Chowdhury  5 , Jonathan Ince  3 , Fatmah Alablani  6   3 , Jatinder Singh Minhas  3   7 , Andrea Lecchini-Visintini  3   8 , Emma Ming Lin Chung  9   10   11   12
Affiliations

Magnetic resonance imaging of the pulsing brain: a systematic review

Alanoud Almudayni et al. MAGMA. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: To perform a systematic review of the literature exploring magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods for measuring natural brain tissue pulsations (BTPs) in humans.

Methods: A prospective systematic search of MEDLINE, SCOPUS and OpenGrey databases was conducted by two independent reviewers using a pre-determined strategy. The search focused on identifying reported measurements of naturally occurring BTP motion in humans. Studies involving non-human participants, MRI in combination with other modalities, MRI during invasive procedures and MRI studies involving externally applied tests were excluded. Data from the retrieved records were combined to create Forest plots comparing brain tissue displacement between Chiari-malformation type 1 (CM-I) patients and healthy controls using an independent samples t-test.

Results: The search retrieved 22 eligible articles. Articles described 5 main MRI techniques for visualisation or quantification of intrinsic brain motion. MRI techniques generally agreed that the amplitude of BTPs varies regionally from 0.04 mm to ~ 0.80 mm, with larger tissue displacements occurring closer to the centre and base of the brain compared to peripheral regions. Studies of brain pathology using MRI BTP measurements are currently limited to tumour characterisation, idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), and CM-I. A pooled analysis confirmed that displacement of tissue in the cerebellar tonsillar region of CM-I patients was + 0.31 mm [95% CI 0.23, 0.38, p < 0.0001] higher than in healthy controls.

Discussion: MRI techniques used for measurements of brain motion are at an early stage of development with high heterogeneity across the methods used. Further work is required to provide normative data to support systematic BTPs characterisation in health and disease.

Keywords: Brain tissue displacement; Brain tissue pulsation; MRI; Magnetic resonance imaging.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Modified PRISMA flowchart summarising the systematic search process [14]
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Reported tissue displacement estimates for differing brain regions measured in sagittal section
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Reported tissue displacement estimates for differing brain regions measured in axial section
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Reported tissue displacement estimates for differing brain regions measured in coronal section
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Tissue displacement estimates for differing brain regions of the brain in CM-I patients and controls (measured in sagittal section) [8, 27, 28]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kucewicz JC, Dunmire B, Leotta DF, Panagiotides H, Paun M, Beach KW. Functional tissue pulsatility imaging of the brain during visual stimulation. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2007;33(5):681–690. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2006.11.008. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ince J, Alharbi M, Minhas JS, Chung EML. Ultrasound measurement of brain tissue movement in humans: A systematic review. Ultrasound. 2019;28(2):681–690. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pahlavian SH, Oshinski J, Zhong X, Loth F, Amini R. Regional quantification of brain tissue strain using displacement-encoding with stimulated echoes magnetic resonance imaging. J Biomechan Eng. 2018;140:8. doi: 10.1115/1.4040227. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Soellinger M, Rutz AK, Kozerke S, Boesiger P. 3D cine displacement-encoded MRI of pulsatile brain motion. Offic J Int Soc Magn Reson Med. 2009;61(1):153–162. doi: 10.1002/mrm.21802. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Terem I, Ni WW, Goubran M, Rahimi MS, Zaharchuk G, Yeom KW, Moseley ME, Kurt M, Holdsworth SJI. Revealing sub-voxel motions of brain tissue using phase-based amplified MRI (aMRI) Magn Reson Med. 2018;80(6):2549–2559. doi: 10.1002/mrm.27236. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types