UC Berkeley

The cerebral circulation is unique in its ability to maintain blood flow to the brain under widely varying physiologic conditions. Incorporating this autoregulatory response is necessary for cerebral blood flow (CBF) modeling, as well as investigations into pathological conditions. We discuss a one-dimensional (1D) nonlinear model of blood flow in the cerebral arteries coupled to autoregulatory lumped-parameter (LP) networks. The LP networks incorporate intracranial pressure (ICP), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and cortical collateral blood flow models. The overall model is used to evaluate changes in CBF due to occlusions in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and common carotid artery (CCA). Velocity waveforms at the CCA and internal carotid artery (ICA) were examined prior and post MCA occlusion. Evident waveform changes due to the occlusion were observed, providing insight into cerebral vasospasm monitoring by morphological changes of the velocity or pressure waveforms. The role of modeling of collateral blood flows through cortical pathways and communicating arteries was also studied. When the MCA was occluded, the cortical collateral flow had an important compensatory role, whereas the communicating arteries in the circle of Willis (CoW) became more important when the CCA was occluded. To validate the model, simulations were conducted to reproduce a clinical test to assess dynamic autoregulatory function, and results demonstrated agreement with published measurements.