Publication
Title
SSFP fMRI at 3 tesla : efficiency of polar acquisition-reconstruction technique
Author
Abstract
SSFP-based fMRI techniques, known for their high specificity and low geometrical distortion, look promising for high-resolution brain mapping. Nevertheless, they suffer from lack of speed and sensitivity, leading them to be exploited mostly in high-field scanners. Radial acquisition can help with these inefficiencies through better tSNR and more effective coverage of the spatial frequencies. Here, we present a SSFP-fMRI approach and experimentally investigate it at 3 T scanners using radial readout for acquisition. In particular, the visual activity is mapped through three bSSFP techniques: 1-Cartesian, 2-Radial with re-gridding reconstruction, 3-Radial with Polar Fourier Transform (PFT) reconstruction. In the PFT technique streaking artifacts, generated at high acceleration rates by re-gridding reconstruction, are avoided and pixel size in the final framework is retrospectively selectable. General agreement, but better tSNR of Radial reading, was first confirmed for these techniques in detection of neural activities at 2 x 2 mm(2) in-plane resolution for all 28 subjects,. Next the outcome of the PFT algorithm with 1 x 1 mm(2) pixel size was compared to images reconstructed by re-gridding (from the same raw data) with the identical pixel size through interpolation. The localization of the activity showed improvement in PFT over interpolation both qualitatively (i.e., well-fitting in gray-matter) and quantitatively (i.e., higher z-scores and tSNR). The proposed technique can therefore be considered as a remedy for lack of speed and sensitivity in SSFP-based fMRI, in conventional field strengths. The proposed approach is particularly useful in taskbased studies when we concentrate on a ROI considerably smaller than FOV, without sacrificing spatial resolution.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Magnetic resonance imaging. - New York
Publication
New York : 2020
ISSN
0730-725X
DOI
10.1016/J.MRI.2020.09.005
Volume/pages
74 (2020) , p. 171-180
ISI
000588447000009
Pubmed ID
32898650
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 01.12.2020
Last edited 02.10.2024
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