For multi-echo EPI, the T2*-weighted echo combination (T2EC) is a commonly used pre-processing step to boost the data quality. We assessed the benefit of T2EC in high-spatial-resolution multi-echo fMRI with explained variances and functional connectivity detectability. The performance was evaluated and compared with single-echo EPI for resting state fMRI on a compact 3T scanner with high-performance gradients. It was shown that a large portion of unwanted signal variance was globally suppressed through T2EC. Multi-echo acquisition shows improved image intensity and enhanced functional sensitivity in brain regions affected by signal-dropout.
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