The Significance of Echo Time in fMRI BOLD Contrast: A Clinical Study during Motor and Visual Activation Tasks at 1.5 T
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) is a commonly-used MR imaging technique in studying brain function. The BOLD signal can be strongly affected by specific sequence parameters, especially in small field strengths. Previous small-scale studies have investigated the effect of TE on BOLD contrast. Thi...
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MDPI AG
2021-08-01
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| author | Themistoklis Boursianis Georgios Kalaitzakis Katerina Nikiforaki Emmanouela Kosteletou Despina Antypa George A. Gourzoulidis Apostolos Karantanas Efrosini Papadaki Panagiotis Simos Thomas G. Maris Kostas Marias |
| author_facet | Themistoklis Boursianis Georgios Kalaitzakis Katerina Nikiforaki Emmanouela Kosteletou Despina Antypa George A. Gourzoulidis Apostolos Karantanas Efrosini Papadaki Panagiotis Simos Thomas G. Maris Kostas Marias |
| author_sort | Themistoklis Boursianis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) is a commonly-used MR imaging technique in studying brain function. The BOLD signal can be strongly affected by specific sequence parameters, especially in small field strengths. Previous small-scale studies have investigated the effect of TE on BOLD contrast. This study evaluates the dependence of fMRI results on echo time (TE) during concurrent activation of the visual and motor cortex at 1.5 T in a larger sample of 21 healthy volunteers. The experiment was repeated using two different TE values (50 and 70 ms) in counterbalanced order. Furthermore, T2* measurements of the gray matter were performed. Results indicated that both peak beta value and number of voxels were significantly higher using TE = 70 than TE = 50 ms in primary motor, primary somatosensory and supplementary motor cortices (<i>p</i> < 0.007). In addition, the amplitude of activation in visual cortices and the dorsal premotor area was also higher using TE = 70 ms (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Gray matter T2* of the corresponding areas did not vary significantly. In conclusion, the optimal TE value (among the two studied) for visual and motor activity is 70 ms affecting both the amplitude and extent of regional hemodynamic activation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:40:00Z |
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| issn | 2379-1381 2379-139X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:40:00Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Tomography |
| spelling | doaj.art-5eb168c8f1ea44dd973453e650b1b2642023-12-03T13:21:52ZengMDPI AGTomography2379-13812379-139X2021-08-017333334310.3390/tomography7030030The Significance of Echo Time in fMRI BOLD Contrast: A Clinical Study during Motor and Visual Activation Tasks at 1.5 TThemistoklis Boursianis0Georgios Kalaitzakis1Katerina Nikiforaki2Emmanouela Kosteletou3Despina Antypa4George A. Gourzoulidis5Apostolos Karantanas6Efrosini Papadaki7Panagiotis Simos8Thomas G. Maris9Kostas Marias10Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, GreeceDepartment of Medical Physics, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, GreeceComputational Biomedicine Laboratory (CBML), Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas (FORTH), 70013 Heraklion, GreeceInstitute of Applied Mathematics, FORTH, 70013 Heraklion, GreeceDepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, GreeceResearch & Measurements Center of OHS Hazardous Agents, OHS Directorate, Hellenic Ministry of Labor, 10110 Athens, GreeceComputational Biomedicine Laboratory (CBML), Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas (FORTH), 70013 Heraklion, GreeceComputational Biomedicine Laboratory (CBML), Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas (FORTH), 70013 Heraklion, GreeceComputational Biomedicine Laboratory (CBML), Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas (FORTH), 70013 Heraklion, GreeceDepartment of Medical Physics, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, GreeceComputational Biomedicine Laboratory (CBML), Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas (FORTH), 70013 Heraklion, GreeceBlood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) is a commonly-used MR imaging technique in studying brain function. The BOLD signal can be strongly affected by specific sequence parameters, especially in small field strengths. Previous small-scale studies have investigated the effect of TE on BOLD contrast. This study evaluates the dependence of fMRI results on echo time (TE) during concurrent activation of the visual and motor cortex at 1.5 T in a larger sample of 21 healthy volunteers. The experiment was repeated using two different TE values (50 and 70 ms) in counterbalanced order. Furthermore, T2* measurements of the gray matter were performed. Results indicated that both peak beta value and number of voxels were significantly higher using TE = 70 than TE = 50 ms in primary motor, primary somatosensory and supplementary motor cortices (<i>p</i> < 0.007). In addition, the amplitude of activation in visual cortices and the dorsal premotor area was also higher using TE = 70 ms (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Gray matter T2* of the corresponding areas did not vary significantly. In conclusion, the optimal TE value (among the two studied) for visual and motor activity is 70 ms affecting both the amplitude and extent of regional hemodynamic activation.https://www.mdpi.com/2379-139X/7/3/30MR imagingT2* measurementecho timeBOLDfMRI/visual activationfMRI/motor activation |
| spellingShingle | Themistoklis Boursianis Georgios Kalaitzakis Katerina Nikiforaki Emmanouela Kosteletou Despina Antypa George A. Gourzoulidis Apostolos Karantanas Efrosini Papadaki Panagiotis Simos Thomas G. Maris Kostas Marias The Significance of Echo Time in fMRI BOLD Contrast: A Clinical Study during Motor and Visual Activation Tasks at 1.5 T Tomography MR imaging T2* measurement echo time BOLD fMRI/visual activation fMRI/motor activation |
| title | The Significance of Echo Time in fMRI BOLD Contrast: A Clinical Study during Motor and Visual Activation Tasks at 1.5 T |
| title_full | The Significance of Echo Time in fMRI BOLD Contrast: A Clinical Study during Motor and Visual Activation Tasks at 1.5 T |
| title_fullStr | The Significance of Echo Time in fMRI BOLD Contrast: A Clinical Study during Motor and Visual Activation Tasks at 1.5 T |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Significance of Echo Time in fMRI BOLD Contrast: A Clinical Study during Motor and Visual Activation Tasks at 1.5 T |
| title_short | The Significance of Echo Time in fMRI BOLD Contrast: A Clinical Study during Motor and Visual Activation Tasks at 1.5 T |
| title_sort | significance of echo time in fmri bold contrast a clinical study during motor and visual activation tasks at 1 5 t |
| topic | MR imaging T2* measurement echo time BOLD fMRI/visual activation fMRI/motor activation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2379-139X/7/3/30 |
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