A silent event‐related functional MRI technique for brain activation studies without interference of scanner acoustic noise

• Published in: Magnetic resonance in medicine 2000-02, Vol.43 (2), p.185-190
• Main Authors: Yang, Yihong, Engelien, Almut, Engelien, Wolfgang, Xu, Su, Stern, Emily, Silbersweig, David A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation - methods; Algorithms; auditory tonotopic mapping; Brain - anatomy & histology; Brain - physiology; brain hemodynamic response; Brain Mapping - instrumentation; Brain Mapping - methods; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Evoked Potentials; functional MRI; Hemodynamics; Humans; Least-Squares Analysis; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - instrumentation; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - statistics & numerical data; Reference Values; scanner acoustic noise; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0740-3194; 1522-2594
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1522-2594(200002)43:2<185::AID-MRM4>3.0.CO;2-3

A new data acquisition method for silent, event‐related functional MRI in which scanner acoustic noise does not interfere with brain activation is introduced and evaluated in an auditory tonotopic mapping experiment. This method takes into account the hemodynamic‐response characteristics of the brain during activation, associated with both task performance and scanner noise. A data acquisition scheme was designed to collect task‐induced brain activation signals without interference of scanner noise on stimulus delivery or on the measured response. The advantages of the technique were demonstrated in a tonotopic mapping experiment of human auditory cortex. Tonotopic maps obtained by the technique in normal subjects showed distinct spatial shifts of the activation foci in the lateral part of Heschl's gyrus with changing stimulus frequency, whereas no systematic shift was shown in a conventional event‐related experiment using the same stimulation paradigm. Signal change in the activation foci with the new technique was 54% larger than with the conventional technique, suggesting an increased dynamic range of the signal change associated with task‐induced brain activation under silent conditions. Magn Reson Med 43:185–190, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.