Impact of Excessive Volume of Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Due to Abnormality Morphologies in Brain and Spinal Cord
Keywords:
Cerebrospinal fluid, brain ventricles, production rate, parameter, CFD(computational fluid dynamics), hydrocephalusAbstract
Cerebrospinal fluid is a colourless fluid produces in the brain in order to protect the brain from the serious injuries. Brain ventricleconsist of several parts started from lateral ventricle, interventricularforamen, third ventricle, aqueduct of sylvius, fourth ventricles, lateral aperture and median aperture. Normally, normal person will produce the volume of cerebrospinal fluid approximately about 125 to 150 mL daily.However, volume of cerebrospinal fluid exceeded the daily production limit, causing instability in the human systemthat is called hydrocephalus condition. Thus, this study aims to understand the flow characteristic of cerebrospinal fluid for both normal and hydrocephalus conditions. Two different models of brain ventricle are modelled; normal and hydrocephalus conditions. Normal conditionis analysed as a basis of comparison. Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) method is used to solve the complex problem in cerebrospinal fluid. Newtonian and incompressible flow are assumption parameters in modelling. Several fluid parameters namelypressure distribution, velocity distribution, wall shear stress and oscillatory shear indexareinvestigated. The results show that high pressure region is recorded near to brain ventricle wall for hydrocephalus condition which significantly effects the stability of the body. Low velocity region and high flow recirculation are illustrated at the centre of brain ventricle. The high percentage of wall shear stress is demonstrated near to the brain ventricle wall and high oscillatory shear index is also illustrated at the centre of brain ventricle. In conclusion, hydrocephalus condition shows the abnormality of flow characteristic at brain ventricle which will manage to interfere the body stability control.