連続体力学に基づく正常圧水頭症の進行モデル

抄録

The brain is a fluid-saturated poroelastic material and keeps its mechanical balance between solid and fluid phases in an intracranial space. Changes in the intracranial water contents due to the loss of neurons with aging lead to brain deformation as cerebral atrophy, while this mechanical implication remains poorly understood. This study aims to develop a computational mechanical model of cerebral atrophy with considering anatomical brain shape and the volume change of brain tissues. The brain was modeled as compressible hyperelastic materials and its volume decrease with aging was modeled as plastic deformation by changing its reference state. The mechanical balance state of the brain with its volume decrease was computed using Galerkin finite element method. Obtained results showed characteristic brain deformations consistent with clinical knowledge. This finding suggests that mechanical balances would be one of the essential factors to understand the mechanism of brain deformation with aging.