A mathematical study of the relationship between cerebral blood volume and intracranial pressure changes

Some preliminary results obtained with an original mathematical model of human intracranial dynamics are presented. The aim of the work is to gain deeper insight into the relationship between intracranial pressure, cerebral blood volume, and the action of cerebrovascular regulatory mechanisms. In building the model, dynamics of brain tissue, cerebrospinal fluid, cerebral veins and intracranial arterial vessels have been reproduced according to physiological considerations. Moreover, two different kinds of feedback regulatory mechanism have been assumed to operate on proximal arteries and arterioles. Results of the simulation show that, when the craniospinal compartment is more rigid than normal, vasodilation of cerebral vessels induced by autoregulatory adjustments can cause significant fluctuations in the intracranial pressure