title: Magnetic field strength increase yields significantly greater contrast-to-noise ratio increase: Measured using BOLD contrast in the primary visual area.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The advantage of a higher static magnetic field for functional MRI has been advocated; however, the observed advantage varies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of increasing static magnetic field strength on the task-related increase in blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal and residual noise with visual stimuli of different frequencies, which may enable better comparisons of results of different MRI scanners.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight right-handed healthy volunteers were presented checkerboard stimuli flickering at 5 different frequencies up to 8 Hz. Field strengths of 3 T or 1.5 T were used to measure frequency-dependent signal changes in the primary visual area. Regression analysis was performed for the signal increase and the "noise," which was defined by the root mean of squares of the residual signal fluctuation. These values were compared and their relationship was analyzed. Imaging parameters were identical except for the use of a 25% shorter echo time using 3 T.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The frequency-dependent increase in BOLD signal using 3 T was twice that using 1.5 T. In contrast, the ratio of noise values that reflect time-course signal fluctuation (3 T/1.5 T) was only 0.88. There was large individual variance in these values, but the slope and noise values were linearly related using either field strength. The contrast-to-noise ratio using 3 T was 2.3 times higher than that using 1.5 T.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was a greater-than-linear increase in the contrast-to-noise ratio compared with the increase of field strength, demonstrating an advantage of using higher field strengths in fMRI studies.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, 444-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Harumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Yoshiharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yonekura
authors.forename: Norihiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sadato
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008280:Magnetics; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*; D012044:Regression Analysis
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen