Abstract #2799

Jolesz F, Park H, Lee J, Panych L, Park H, O'Leary H, Yoo S

We developed a method to measure functional MRI signals from multiple cortical areas simultaneously in real-time. Using 3 Tesla clinical MRI, the brain anatomy was automatically registered, segmented, and labeled with anatomical and Brodmanns area nomenclature. Subsequently, the blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signal activities were measured from the segmented regions-of-interest, and displayed in real-time. The method was implemented and tested on three healthy volunteers during the performance of the hand motor task using even-related design. In order to further examine the utility of monitoring brain activities without the prior knowledge of the timing of the task, one subject was allowed freely engage the task, and associated brain activities were successfully detected on-fly from the motor-related neural substrates.