title: Comparison of fMRI activation as measured with gradient- and spin-echo EPI during visual perception.
abstract: In this study, we compared fMRI activation measured with gradient- and spin-echo-based fMRI during visual perception of faces, which is mediated by neural activation within a distributed cortical network. With both fMRI techniques, bilateral activation was observed in multiple regions including the inferior occipital gyrus, fusiform gyrus, superior temporal sulcus, amygdala, inferior frontal gyrus, and orbitofrontal cortex. When compared with the gradient-echo sequence, activation measured with the spin-echo sequence was significantly reduced. This decrease was manifested by smaller cluster size, lower statistical significance, smaller amplitude of the fMRI signal, and smaller number of subjects who showed activation in all face-responsive regions. In orbitofrontal cortex, a region prone to susceptibility-related signal dephasing, the spin-echo acquisition considerably restored the signal, but did not reveal stronger activation when compared with the gradient-echo acquisition. Our data indicate that optimized GE sequences that reduce susceptibility artefacts are sufficient to detect activation in regions such as the orbitofrontal cortex.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Conny F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boesiger
authors.forename: Alumit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ishai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016477:Artifacts; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004578:Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*