Brice Fernandez1,
Gavin Houston2, Victor Spoormaker3, Marion Smits4,
Michael Czisch3, Patrick Le Roux5
1EMEA
Research and Collaboration, Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare,
Munich, Germany; 2EMEA Research and Collaboration, Applied Science
Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Rotterdam, Netherlands; 3RG
Neuroimaging, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; 4Departement
of Radiology, Erasmus MC - University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam,
Netherlands; 5EMEA Research and Collaboration, Applied Science
Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Palaiseau, France
Hybrid gradient (GRE) and spin-echo (SE) pulse sequences are an interesting alternative to GRE functional MRI (fMRI). In this preliminary work, to minimize the difference between the GRE and the SE profile, two pairs of RF pulses (excitation and refocusing pulses) were designed, implemented and evaluated in a basic visual fMRI experiment. The results shows that a typical profile difference (<6%) between the SE and the GRE profile is not problematic in the context of fMRI. Our results give also some insight for further improvement of the RF pulse pair used in this hybrid pulse sequence.