Spectral characteristics of the internal jugular vein and central venous pressure pulses: a proof of concept study

Human CSF movement influenced by vascular low frequency oscillations and respiration

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) movement through the pathways within the central nervous system is of high significance for maintaining normal brain health and function. Low frequency hemodynamics and respiration have been shown to drive CSF in humans independently. Here, we hypothesize that CSF movement may be driven simultaneously (and in synchrony) by both mechanisms and study their independent and coupled effects on CSF movement using novel neck fMRI scans. Caudad CSF movement at the fourth ventricle and hemodynamics of the major neck blood vessels (internal carotid arteries and internal jugular veins) was measured from 11 young, healthy volunteers using novel neck fMRI scans with simultaneous measurement of respiration. Two distinct models of CSF movement (1. Low-frequency hemodynamics and 2. Respiration) and possible coupling between them were investigated. We show that the dynamics of brain fluids can be assessed from the neck by studying the interrelationships between major neck blood vessels and the CSF movement in the fourth ventricle. We also demonstrate that there exists a cross-frequency coupling between these two separable mechanisms. The human CSF system can respond to multiple coupled physiological forces at the same time. This information may help inform the pathological mechanisms behind CSF movement-related disorders.

Proposal for a Unitary Anatomo-Clinical and Radiological Classification of Third Mobile Window Abnormalities

Introduction: An increased number of otic capsule dehiscence (OCD) variants relying on the third window pathomechanism have been reported lately. Therefore, a characterization of the anatomical structures involved and an accurate radiological description of the third window (TW) interface location have become essential for improving the diagnosis and appropriate therapeutic modalities. The purpose of this article is to propose a classification based on clinical, anatomical, and radiological data of third mobile window abnormalities (TMWA) and to discuss the alleged pathomechanism in lesser-known clinical variants.

Materials and Methods: The imaging records of 259 patients who underwent, over the last 6 years, a high-resolution CT (HRCT) of the petrosal bone for conductive hearing loss were analyzed retrospectively. Patients with degenerative, traumatic, or chronic infectious petrosal bone pathology were excluded. As cases with a clinical presentation similar to those of a TW syndrome have recently been described in the literature but without these being confirmed radiologically, we thought it necessary to be integrated in a separated branch of this classification as “CT - TMWA.” The same goes for certain intralabyrinthine pathologies also recently reported in the literature, which mimic to some extent the symptoms of a TW pathology. Therefore, we suggest to call them intralabyrinthine TW-like abnormalities.

Results: Temporal bone HRCT and, in some cases, 3T MRI of 97 patients presenting symptomatic or pauci-symptomatic, single or multiple, unilateral or bilateral OCD were used to develop this classification. According to the topography and anatomical structures involved at the site of the interface of the TW, a third-type classification of OCD is proposed.

Conclusions: A classification reuniting all types of TMWA as the one proposed in this article would allow for a better systematization and understanding of this complex pathology and possibly paves the way for innovative therapeutic approaches. To encompass all clinical and radiological variants of TMWA reported in the literature so far, TMWAs have been conventionally divided into two major subgroups: Extralabyrinthine (or “true” OCD with three subtypes) and Intralabyrinthine (in which an additional mobile window-like mechanism is highly suspected) or TMWA-like subtype. Along these subgroups, clinical forms of OCD with multiple localization (multiple OCD) and those that, despite the fact that they have obvious characteristics of OCD have a negative CT scan (or CT – TMWA), were also included.