Abstract #3248

Removing Ballistocardiographic Noise in Combined EEG-fMRI Using Soft Constrained PLS Method

Siamak Salari Sharif¹, Michael D. Noseworthy², James P. Reilly³, Daniel J. Bosnyak⁴

¹MR Innovations Inc., Detroit, MI, United States; ²Electrical and computer engineering, school of biomedical engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; ³Electrical and computer engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; ⁴Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

Here we present a novel approach to removal of ballistocardiographic noise that contaminates EEG during combined EEG/fMRI. By using a soft constrained PLS algorithm (SC-PLS) we were able to extract EEG components that are essentially noise free. Our method is effective at removing BCG especially when ECG data is corrupt or not available. Furthermore, our method is advantageous as it does not require the finding of ECG QRS peaks, nor requires collection of ECG data.