Abstract #5443

Distortion-matched high-resolution reduced-FoV functional and diffusion MRI of the human brainstem at 7T

Giovanni Savini^1,2, Fabrizio Fasano³, Joseph Whittaker ², Letizia Casiraghi^4,5, Fulvia Palesi^5,6, Gloria Castellazzi^5,7, Alessandro Lascialfari¹, Egidio D'Angelo^4,5, Derek Jones², Richard Wise², and Claudia Angela Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott^4,8,9

¹Department of Physics, University of Milan, Milano, Italy, ²CUBRIC, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom, ³Siemens Healthcare Ltd, Frimley, Camberley, United Kingdom, ⁴Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, ⁵Brain Connectivity Center, C. Mondino National Neurological Institute, Pavia, Italy, ⁶Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, ⁷Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, ⁸Queen Square MS Centre, UCL Institute of Neurology, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁹Brain MRI 3T Research Centre, C. Mondino National Neurological Institute, Pavia, Italy

The brainstem plays a key role in the central nervous system, but its proximity to the oral cavity and physiological noise sources constitute major limitations for EPI imaging. We compared image quality from full and reduced-FoV spin-echo EPI sequences at ultrahigh field. Compared to standard EPI acquisitions, reduced-FoV techniques confer considerable benefits for brainstem imaging in terms of shortening TE, increasing signal-to-noise ratio and mitigating distortions. We exploited these advantages for 7T distortion-matched functional and diffusion imaging of the brainstem using ZOOM-EPI. A finger tapping task resulted in significant activations in regions corresponding to the cuneate nucleus and the pyramidal decussation.

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