One challenge in fMRI is separating neuronal from artifactual signal fluctuations. Recent developments in multi-echo fMRI (ME-fMRI) have enabled such classification by examining the TE-dependence of each component after ICA. However, ME-fMRI needs short readouts to fit multiple echoes before signal decay, requiring sparse sampling for EPI-sequences. Here we present our cardiac-gated 4-echo spiral sequence, which allows for short echo time and readout duration, which maximizes SNR and BOLD contrast. We were able to identify and remove T1-artifacts resulting from cardiac-gating’s variable-TR, an essential aspect for applications such as spinal cord fMRI, where cardiac-gating is required to remove CSF pulsation effects.
This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.