Functional MRI using multiple receiver coils: BOLD signal changes and signal-to-noise ratio for three-dimensional-PRESTO vs. single shot EPI in comparison to a standard quadrature head coil

✍ Scribed by Volker Hesselmann; Ralf Girnus; Christoph Wedekind; Stefan Hunsche; Juergen Bunke; Oliver Schulte; Bettina Sorger; Kathrin Lasek; Barbara Krug; Volker Sturm; Klaus Lackner

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 556 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1053-1807
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.20101

✦ Synopsis

Purpose:

To compare the performance of single shot echo planar imaging (ssepi) with three-dimensional-multishot echo-planar imaging (epi) based on principles-of-echo-shifting-with-a-train-of-observations (presto) in combination with a standard quadrature head coil and, as an alternative, a multiple receiver coil in intraoperative functional magnetic resonance imaging (fmri).

Materials and methods:

Six healthy subjects underwent fmri with visual stimulation using a ssepi and a presto-sequence with both coil systems. statistical evaluation was done with a scanner-based post-processing software and spm 99. the number of activated voxels in the visual cortex, the percent signal change between rest and activation, and finally the signal-to-noise ratio (snr) during time course were measured and compared for both coil systems and both sequences, used in four different combinations.

Results:

Blood oxygen level dependent (bold) signal changes were the lowest with presto and standard head coil and the highest for ssepi and phased array coil. for the latter combination, a significantly higher signal change and larger activation size was observed together with a better snr. ssepi yielded similar performance using both coils.

Conclusion:

Ssepi was superior due to its better snr and a higher bold signal change in the defined settings, irrespective of the coil used. in a stereotactical setup the phased array coil can be used to generate fmri data without loss of image quality.