Abstract #3092

FMRI using non-Gaussian -stretched exponential maps

Marco Palombo ¹ , Emiliano Macaluso ² , Marco Bozzali ² , and Silvia Capuani ¹

¹ Physics Department, Sapienza University, Rome, Rome, Italy, ² NeuroImaging Laboratory, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy

We investigated the signal source and spatial specificity of DW fMRI changes in the visual cortex using Gaussian and non-Gaussian diffusion methods. In particular we exploited the strong dependence of non-Gaussian lower case Greek gamma

parameter on local magnetic susceptibility in order to show: 1) vascular contribution (in capillaries and small veils) is predominant in the ADC variations found in Gaussian diffusion fMRI; 2) non-Gaussian diffusion fMRI is more sensitive and spatially localized to the signal source than Gaussian diffusion fMRI ; 3) it is possible to use non-Gaussian diffusion fMRI to localize brain activation areas more accurately than usual BOLD fMRI.

This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.

Join Here