Magnetic Resonance Elastography in Hydrocephalus

Dartmouth Health

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Hydrocephalus

Treatments

Device: MRE

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

NIH

Identifiers

NCT02230124

DMS 20618 FED07029

3R01EB004632-02 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this project is to assess the utility of a new magnetic resonance technique called magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) in the non-invasive diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus. The investigators hypothesize that MRE produces a unique imaging signature for hydrocephalus that distinguishes the disease from the normal (non-hydrocephalic) but atrophied brain, a distinction not possible with conventional MR imaging studies that are presently available.

Enrollment

35 patients

Sex

All

Ages

45 to 95 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Age >21;
One or more of the following complaints: memory loss/dementia, urinary incontinence, or progressive gait disturbance
Ventriculomegaly defined as temporal horn width >2 mm or a FH:ID ratio>30% on computed tomography or MRI, where FH is the maximal distance between the frontal horns and ID is the internal diameter from inner table to inner table of the skull at this level (Greenberg)
A diagnosis of any adult onset hydrocephalus (NPH, post-traumatic, post-hemorrhagic, obstructive, or idiopathic) will be considered for enrollment in this study

Exclusion criteria

Implanted neuro-stimulator or cardiac pacemaker
Known coagulopathy; major organ dysfunction
End-stage congestive heart failure
Oxygen-dependent pulmonary disease, hepatic cirrhosis, or dialysis- dependent renal failure; or other condition which, according to the assessment of the treating surgeon or anesthesia team
Precludes consideration of elective surgery
Patients who may be pregnant will be excluded from this study as well