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Abstract #3428

Variance in MRI Scanner Temporal Stability and TSNR for Functional MRI on Clinical Systems

Susan K Lemieux 1,2 , Karen L Brown 3 , Jeffrey J Vesek 2 , Christopher T Sica 2 , Jianli Wang 2 , and Qing X Yang 2

1 School of Science Engineering and Technology, Penn State Harrisburg, Middletown, PA, United States, 2 Radiology - MRI Core, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States, 3 Radiology - Health Physics, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States

Temporal signal-to-noise (TSNR) and stability are critically important for clinical and research echo-planar imaging (EPI) of the brain although not always measured weekly or monthly as part of scanner quality assurance. Temporal noise from the scanner limits the detection of very small regions of interest (ROI) of fMRI activations while relatively larger activations can still be detected. To investigate the variability of scanner temporal SNR and stability, measurements were made on 7 clinical scanners. Temporal stability values are reported. Quality assurance protocols for sites that perform functional MRI scans should consider incorporating temporal SNR and stability measurements.

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