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Abstract #0815

Using Reliability to Predict Validity in Clinical FMRI

Tynan Reid Stevens1, Steven D. Beyea1, Ryan CN D'Arcy1, David B. Clarke2

1IBD-Atlantic, NRC, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; 2QEII Health Science Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada


The accuracy of presurgical fMRI is inherently related to the threshold method used to create the activation maps. We aim to demonstrate that choosing thresholds that optimize reproducibility leads to high correspondence with the gold standard, cortical stimulation (CS). Eleven patients were tested by presurgical fMRI, and observed while CS was performed in the operating room. Functional MRI maps were optimized for reliability, and the distance from each CS point to the nearest activated voxel was calculated. Reliability optimization reduced the CS-to-fMRI distance by 1-8 mm compared with traditional threshold methods.