Functional MRI using Super-Resolved Spatiotemporally-Encoded Imaging Techniques

Noam Ben-Eliezer¹, Ute Goerke², Lucio Frydman¹

Recently, new single-shot imaging sequences such as RASER and Hybrid SPEN have been proposed, relying on spatiotemporal-encoding (SPEN) and offering significantly higher immunity to B0-inhomogeneities and chemical-shift offsets than conventional EPI. fMRI experiments in the orbitofrontal cortex have been successfully performed using RASER a highly challenging task using EPI due to strong distortions near the air-filled sinuses. Despite these advantages systematic analyses have shown that SPEN sensitivity is lower and its RF power deposition higher, than in EPI. We hereby explore a new reconstruction algorithm, capable of alleviating these shortcomings and analyze its performance in the context of fMRI applications.