Background: To explore the correlation between intracranial pressure (ICP) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) parameters assessed by phase-contrast cine MRI (PC-MRI).Methods: Fifteen normal people and 80 subjects with communicating hydrocephalus who underwent PC-MRI examinations from a single center were included in this cross-sectional study. In addition to recording patient's age, heart rate, blood pressure and body mass index (BMI), ICP and CSF hemodynamic parameters, such as flow velocity and aqueduct diameter, were measured for correlation analysis. Results:The mean ICP and CSF aqueduct diameter in hydrocephalus patients were 151.05 mmH 2 O and 2.877 mm, respectively, and the maximum (6.938 cm/s) and mean (0.845 cm/s) CSF flow velocities were significantly higher in these patients compared with the controls (P<0.05). After adjusting for age, heart rate, blood pressure, and BMI, there was no significant relationship between peak velocity and ICP (P>0.05). Furthermore, a nonlinear relationship was observed between the ICP and the average velocity of CSF, and the ICP and aqueduct diameter. The ICP increased with the average velocity above 1.628 cm/s (P≤0.01), and the aqueduct diameter increased more than 3.6 mm (P<0.001).Conclusions: This study found significant correlations between ICP and average velocity and aqueduct diameter. These findings can be useful in assisting clinicians in predicting ICP more effectively, thus improving patient management.

Background Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are indicated for use in preoperative planning and may complicate diagnosis and place a burden on patients with lumbar disc herniation. Purpose To investigate the diagnostic potential of MRI-based synthetic CT with conventional CT in the diagnosis of lumbar disc herniation. Material and Methods After obtaining prior institutional review board approval, 19 patients who underwent conventional and synthetic CT imaging were enrolled in this prospective study. Synthetic CT images were generated from the MRI data using U-net. The two sets of images were compared and analyzed qualitatively by two musculoskeletal radiologists. The images were rated on a 4-point scale to determine their subjective quality. The agreement between the conventional and synthetic images for a diagnosis of lumbar disc herniation was determined independently using the kappa statistic. The diagnostic performances of conventional and synthetic CT images were evaluated for sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, and the consensual results based on T2-weighted imaging were employed as the reference standard. Results The inter-reader and intra-reader agreement were almost moderate for all evaluated modalities (κ = 0.57−0.79 and 0.47−0.75, respectively). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for detecting lumbar disc herniation were similar for synthetic and conventional CT images (synthetic vs. conventional, reader 1: sensitivity = 91% vs. 81%, specificity = 83% vs. 100%, accuracy = 87% vs. 91%; P <  0.001; reader 2: sensitivity = 84% vs. 81%, specificity = 85% vs. 98%, accuracy = 84% vs. 90%; P < 0.001). Conclusion Synthetic CT images can be used in the diagnostics of lumbar disc herniation.