hide
Free keywords:
adiabatic saturation, auditory fMRI, scanner noise, sparse imaging, steady‐state condition, variable silent delay
Abstract:
Auditory functional MRI (fMRI) often uses silent inter‐volume delays for stimulus presentation. However, maintaining the steady‐state of the magnetization usually requires constant delays. Here, a novel acquisition scheme dubbed “pre‐Saturated EPI using Multiple delays in Steady‐state” (SEPIMS) is proposed, using spin saturation at a fixed delay before each volume to maintain steady‐state conditions, independent of previous spin history. This concept allows for variable inter‐volume delays and thus for flexible stimulus design in auditory fMRI. The purpose was to compare the signal stability of SEPIMS and conventional sparse EPI (CS‐EPI).
