title: Validation of a Hemodynamic Model for the Study of the Cerebral Venous Outflow System Using MR Imaging and Echo-Color Doppler Data.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A comprehensive parameter model was developed to investigate correlations between cerebral hemodynamics and alterations in the extracranial venous circulation due to posture changes and/or extracranial venous obstruction (stenosis). The purpose of this work was to validate the simulation results by using MR imaging and echo-color Doppler experimental blood flow data in humans.
  
  
  METHODS
  To validate the model outcomes, we used supine average arterial and venous extracerebral blood flow, obtained by using phase-contrast MR imaging from 49 individuals with stenosis in the acquisition plane at the level of the disc between the second and third vertebrae of the left internal jugular vein, 20 with stenosis in the acquisition plane at the level of the disc between the fifth and sixth vertebrae of the right internal jugular vein, and 38 healthy controls without stenosis. Average data from a second group of 10 healthy volunteers screened with an echo-color Doppler technique were used to evaluate flow variations due to posture change.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was excellent agreement between experimental and simulated supine flows. Every simulated CBF fell inside the standard error from the corresponding average experimental value, as well as most of the simulated extracerebral arterial flow (extracranial blood flow from the head and face, measured at the level of the disc between second and third vertebrae) and venous flows. Simulations of average jugular and vertebral blood flow variations due to a change of posture from supine to upright also matched the experimental data.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The good agreement between simulated and experimental results means that the model can correctly reproduce the main factors affecting the extracranial circulation and could be used to study other types of stenotic conditions not represented by the experimental data.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences (G.G., A.T., F.S., M.G.) giacomo.gadda@unife.it.
authors.forename: G
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7126-7533
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gadda
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences (G.G., A.T., F.S., M.G.).
authors.forename: A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2494-8993
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taibi
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences (G.G., A.T., F.S., M.G.).
authors.forename: F
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2783-8009
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sisini
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences (G.G., A.T., F.S., M.G.).
authors.forename: M
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4491-2357
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gambaccini
authors.affiliation: MRI Institute for Biomedical Research (S.K.S., D.T.U., E.M.H.), Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: S K
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3018-626X
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sethi
authors.affiliation: MRI Institute for Biomedical Research (S.K.S., D.T.U., E.M.H.), Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: D T
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8330-1583
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Utriainen
authors.affiliation: MRI Institute for Biomedical Research (S.K.S., D.T.U., E.M.H.), Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: E M
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4965-7954
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Haacke
authors.affiliation: Vascular Diseases Center (P.Z.), University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7107-888X
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zamboni
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering (M.U.), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0911-0308
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ursino