TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zeller, Mario
A1  - Müller, Alexander
A1  - Gutberlet, Marcel
A1  - Nichols, Thomas
A1  - Hahn, Dietbert
A1  - Köstler, Herbert
A1  - Bartsch, Andreas J.
T1  - Boosting BOLD fMRI by K-Space Density Weighted Echo Planar Imaging
T2  - PLoS ONE
N2  - Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become a powerful and influential method to non-invasively study neuronal brain activity. For this purpose, the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) effect is most widely used. T2* weighted echo planar imaging (EPI) is BOLD sensitive and the prevailing fMRI acquisition technique. Here, we present an alternative to its standard Cartesian recordings, i.e. k-space density weighted EPI, which is expected to increase the signal-to-noise ratio in fMRI data. Based on in vitro and in vivo pilot measurements, we show that fMRI by k-space density weighted EPI is feasible and that this new acquisition technique in fact boosted spatial and temporal SNR as well as the detection of local fMRI activations. Spatial resolution, spatial response function and echo time were identical for density weighted and conventional Cartesian EPI. The signal-to-noise ratio gain of density weighting can improve activation detection and has the potential to further increase the sensitivity of fMRI investigations.
KW  - data acquisition
KW  - density
KW  - echo planar imaging
KW  - functional magnetic resonance imaging
KW  - imaging techniques
KW  - matched filters
KW  - signal filtering
KW  - statistical data
Y1  - 2013
UR  - https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9723
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-97233
ER  -