Meeting Banner
Abstract #3452

Event-Related Whole-Brain FMRI: EPI with Slice Dependent Echo Times Versus Standard EPI

Sebastian Domsch1, Julia Linke2, Michaela Ruttorf1, Michele Wessa2, Lothar Rudi Schad1

1Department of Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany; 2Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany


We present an event-related whole-brain fMRI study at 3T testing an EPI with slice dependent TE (modified EPI) against an EPI with TE of 27ms (standard EPI). Twelve subjects performed a learning task, which predominantly involved limbic and frontal brain regions. The number of supra-threshold voxels found in putamen, thalamus, parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus and superior frontal cortex is more than twice as great in the modified EPI as compared to the standard EPI. More activation is found in the middle frontal gyrus and the olfactory cortex using the standard EPI. Maximal Z-scores are slightly higher in most regions when using the modified EPI.