Abstract #1091

Development and Evaluation of Alternative Imaging Methods for FMRI at 7 Tesla

John Sexton^1,2, Jascha Swisher³, Frank Tong³, Baxter Rogers^1,2, J Christopher Gatenby^1,4, John C. Gore^1,4

¹Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, United States; ²Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; ³Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; ⁴Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States

We compare single-shot gradient-echo 2D-EPI, multi-shot gradient-echo 3D-FFE and multi-shot gradient-echo 3D-PRESTO in a polar angle retinotopic mapping experiment at four isotropic resolutions (1.12mm3, 1.67mm3, 2mm3, and 3mm3) at 7 Tesla. Retinotopic maps in agreement with literature were obtained at all resolutions. The 3D sequences provided similar BOLD sensitivity and significantly less distortion compared to 2D-EPI. In addition, 3D-PRESTO provided much higher temporal resolution than 2D-EPI. Our findings suggest rich potential for high-resolution 3D imaging sequences in retinotopic mapping and other functional MRI experiments at high field.