Abstract #5319

BOLD Signal Changes in Spinal Cord with Hypercapnia

Benjamin N Conrad^1,2, Satoshi Maki¹, Jennifer M Watchmaker³, Bailey A Box¹, Robert L Barry^4,5, Seth A Smith^1,3, and John C Gore^1,3

¹Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States, ²Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States, ³Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States, ⁴Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States, ⁵Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States

A hypercapnic gas challenge was used to demonstrate blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal changes in the cervical spinal cord, and the sensitivities of two functional acquisition sequences (standard single shot (GE-EPI) and 3D multishot (3D-EPI) gradient echo EPI) were compared. Results indicated that both acquisitions were able to detect signal changes of about 1% in gray matter and higher values in white matter confirming that BOLD effects in the cord are reliable. The 3D multishot sequence exhibited higher temporal SNR and reduced susceptibility distortions, making it an attractive option for BOLD fMRI in the spinal cord.

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