High Resolution BOLD FMRI Using MHASTE

Yongquan Ye¹, Yan Zhuo¹, Xiaohong Joe Zhou²

High resolution BOLD fMRI data on visual cortex were acquired using mHASTE, a novel GRAPPA accelerated single shot TSE technique, and the results were compared with those of GE- and SE-EPI. Higher SNR was obtained with mHASTE than both EPIs, and increased functional activation was detected by mHASTE but not by EPI when going from low resolution to high resolution. mHASTE was also found to have greater activation than both EPI in some cases,especially at high resolution, suggesting a more robust BOLD contrast mechanism for mHASTE in high resolution fMRI.