A. Howseman

Improvements in snap-shot nuclear magnetic resonance imaging

New variants of the ultra-high-speed echo-planar imaging technique have been used to obtain snap-shot images of adult patients and volunteers at 0.1 T. Modified pulsed-gradient sequences together with non-linear signal sampling and activity screened gradients have greatly improved the image quality obtainable by single-shot methods. A particular variant, modulus blipped echo-planar single-pulse technique (MBEST), although slightly slower than the blipped echo-planar single-pulse technique (BEST), is experimentally more robust and incorporates intrinsic T2 weighting. An account of these improvements together with some experimental results is presented.

Characterizing the Relationship between BOLD Contrast and Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Measurements by Varying the Stimulus Presentation Rate

This paper investigates the relationship between the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrast effect and regional cerebral blood flow using the techniques of functional MRI (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). A passive listening paradigm with parametric variation in word presentation rate was used to investigate the rate dependency of both BOLD contrast fMRI and H215O PET in primary auditory cortex. We attempted to equate the stimulus presentation acoustic environments by using prerecorded echoplanar imaging sounds during the PET paradigm. We show that there is a linear relationship between word presentation rate and cerebral blood flow in primary auditory cortex, whereas the relationship between BOLD contrast and stimulus presentation rate is highly nonlinear, showing a saturable effect. Two possible explanations for our results are discussed: a nonlinearity in the relationship between BOLD contrast and deoxyhemoglobin concentration or a nonlinear rate dependency of the physiological mechanisms causing changes in deoxyhemoglobin concentration.

The effect of slice order and thickness on fMRI activation data using multislice echo-planar imaging

Multislice echo-planar imaging (EPI) is a commonly used technique for fMRI studies. Brain activation images acquired using fMRI are sensitive to T2* changes, reflecting the level of blood oxygenation (BOLD contrast), and may also contain an element of T1 contrast which detects blood flow changes in large vessels. If slice inflow (T1) effects are significant in multislice EPI, then as the order in which the slices are acquired is changed, differences in the activation maps are predicted. However, in experiments presented here using visual stimulation, the data demonstrate that highly consistent results can be achieved for repetition times (TR) of 6.0, 3.0, and 1.5 s. This suggests that, for whole-brain multislice EPI, fMRI activation is dominated by T2*, BOLD contrast. The thickness of the imaging slice is also an important parameter in these studies, having implications for spatial resolution, sensitivity, and acquisition time. In separate visual cortex experiments the effect on the values of the fMRI Z scores and the number of activated voxels is investigated as a function of slice thickness (from 1 to 8 mm). The maximum Z scores in the data are similar for all slice thicknesses and, after resampling to allow a direct comparison to be made, the volume of visual cortex detected as significantly activated increases with slice thickness.

Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent Signal Time Courses During Prolonged Visual Stimulation

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies using extended visual stimulation have reported disparate results. Two studies have shown that blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) contrast decays over time which is cited as evidence of recoupling between oxygen utilisation and cerebral blood flow during stimulus presentation. These findings have serious implications for the design of functional MRI experiments because they raise the possibility that BOLD contrast may not accurately reflect neuronal activity. Another study reported no decay of BOLD contrast. These studies used different visual stimuli and imaging techniques. We have performed a series of experiments, using different MRI techniques (echo-planar imaging and fast low angle shot) and two different visual stimuli to assess which of these factors may explain the previous results. In all of our experiments the signal time course from areas of significant activation remained largely elevated throughout the duration of stimulation and this is not affected by the imaging method used. Our data, in accordance with that of Bandettini et al., suggest that recoupling between blood flow and oxygen extraction is not a general phenomenon in the human brain when visual stimuli are presented for an extended time.

Volumar imaging using NMR spin echoes: echo-volumar imaging (EVI) at 0.1 T

The principles of echo-volumar imaging (EVI) are introduced and it is shown that full volume images can be obtained very rapidly by this means. Four variants of EVI are discussed: a four-shot technique, two snapshot methods and a zoomed snapshot method. Experimental results are presented for one snapshot method and the four-shot technique. These are relatively coarse images obtained with phantoms at 4.0 MHz and serve as a first experimental demonstration of the method.

Echo planar imaging of an infant with pectus excavatum.

Echo planar imaging has enabled us to image safely and without sedation the thorax of an infant with pectus excavatum deformity. The heart was displaced into the left side of the thorax, and the right lung was calculated to be 1.6 times larger than the left lung.