Abstract #3733

Characterization of ultra-high resolution Gradient Echo and Spin Echo BOLD fMRI in the human visual cortex at 7 Tesla

Catarina Rua^1,2, Mauro Costagli^2,3, Mark R Symms⁴, Laura Biagi³, Mirco Cosottini^2,5, Alberto Del Guerra¹, and Michela Tosetti^2,3

¹Department of Physics, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, ²Imago7 Research Center, Pisa, Italy, ³IRCCS Stella Maris, Pisa, Italy, ⁴GE Healthcare, Pisa, Italy, ⁵Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

This study compared GRE-EPI and SE-EPI sequences with different spatial resolutions at 7T for fMRI in the visual cortex. It is demonstrated that SE-EPI yields higher specificity than GRE-EPI. However, the decreasing temporal signal-to-noise at submillimeter acquisitions affected significantly the extension of the activated volume in a SE acquisition. At this level, GRE-based functional maps showed significant increased specificity compared to standard resolutions, and a preserved cluster volume. The reduction of partial volume effects allowed the selection of an activation sub-cluster excluding the highest z-scores, which co-localized preferably in non-gray matter, potentially increasing the performance of UHF high-resolution fMRI.

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