An integral part of the brain is a fluid flow system
that is separate from brain tissue and the cerebral blood flow system:
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is produced near the centre of the brain,
flows out and around the brain, including around the spinal
cord and is absorbed primarily in a region between the
brain tissue and the skull. Hydrocephalus covers a broad range
of anomalous flow and pressure situations: the normal
flow path can become blocked, other problems can occur
which result in abnormal tissue deformation or pressure changes.
This talk will describe work that treats brain tissue as
a poroelastic matrix through which the CSF can move when normal
flow paths are blocked, producing tissue deformation and
pressure changes. We have a number of models, the simplest
treating the brain and CSF flow as having spherial symmetry ranging
to more complex, fully three-dimensional computations.
As well as considering acute hydrocephalus, we touch on
normal pressure hydrocephalus, idiopathic intracranial hypertension
and simulation of an infusion test. The numerical methods used
are a combination of finite difference and finite element techniques
applied to an interesting set of hydro-elastic equations.
