Mark Chiew1,2, Simon James Graham1,3
1Medical Biophysics,
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 2Rotman Research
Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 3Imaging Research, Sunnybrook
Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Multi-echo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique capable of providing enhanced contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) data in blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) imaging experiments. Here, data is presented on the relationship between physiological noise correlations and the CNR benefits of densely sampled multi-echo fMRI over traditional fMRI acquisitions, such as echo-planar imaging. Data from Monte Carlo simulations and experiment are presented, and illustrate a decreasing power law dependence of CNR benefit vs. degree of noise correlation measured across echoes.