Abstract #3658

Optimized fMRI Imaging Protocol & Hardware for Studying the Orbitofrontal Cortex in the Presence of Olfactory Stimulation

Johnny Ng^1,2, Heather Berlin³, Wayne Goodman³, Emily Eaves¹, David Carpenter¹, Cheuk Tang^1,3

¹Radiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States; ²Biomedical Engineering Dept., City College of New York, New York, NY, United States; ³Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States

Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is the key structure affected in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). There is a well-established relationship between olfactory identification and the OFC. There are limited studies in this area with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which showed activations in the OFC during olfactory stimulation with pleasant and unpleasant odorant stimuli. There are two main issues which limiting studies in this area: the non-availability of olfactometers and it is problematic imaging OFC due to susceptibility artifacts. The aim of this study is to optimized fMRI imaging protocol for the OFC in OCD patients with the in-house built olfactometer.