Time-varying modeling of cerebral hemodynamics.

The scientific and clinical importance of cerebral hemodynamics has generated considerable interest in their quantitative understanding via computational modeling. In particular, two aspects of cerebral hemodynamics, cerebral flow autoregulation (CFA) and CO2 vasomotor reactivity (CVR), have attracted much attention because they are implicated in many important clinical conditions and pathologies (orthostatic intolerance, syncope, hypertension, stroke, vascular dementia, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases with cerebrovascular components). Both CFA and CVR are dynamic physiological processes by which cerebral blood flow is regulated in response to fluctuations in cerebral perfusion pressure and blood CO2 tension.