Articles techniques et présentations

A numerical finite element model of one human brain is built in COMSOL in order to study a particular form of hydrocephalus, the so called Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH). The geometry of the ventricles and the skull is obtained by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and imported in COMSOL Multiphysics. Form the mechanical point of view, the brain parenchyma is modeled as a porous medium fully saturated with the Cerebro-Spinal Fluid (CSF) using the Biot’s theory of consolidation. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is used to establish locally the direction of the bundles of neurons (fiber tracts). Novel ideas are introduced to link the diffusion with CSF permeability in brain. To find out the influence of the anisotropy in permeability, two models are tested under the same CSF pressure gradient.