Rapid Precision Functional Mapping of Individuals Using Multi-Echo fMRI.

Publication Type Academic Article
Authors Lynch C, Power J, Scult M, Dubin M, Gunning F, Liston C
Journal Cell Rep
Volume 33
Issue 12
Pagination 108540
Date Published 12/22/2020
ISSN 2211-1247
Keywords Brain Mapping, Echo-Planar Imaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Precision Medicine
Abstract Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is widely used in cognitive and clinical neuroscience, but long-duration scans are currently needed to reliably characterize individual differences in functional connectivity (FC) and brain network topology. In this report, we demonstrate that multi-echo fMRI can improve the reliability of FC-based measurements. In four densely sampled individual humans, just 10 min of multi-echo data yielded better test-retest reliability than 30 min of single-echo data in independent datasets. This effect is pronounced in clinically important brain regions, including the subgenual cingulate, basal ganglia, and cerebellum, and is linked to three biophysical signal mechanisms (thermal noise, regional variability in the rate of T2 decay, and S0-dependent artifacts) with spatially distinct influences. Together, these findings establish the potential utility of multi-echo fMRI for rapid precision mapping using experimentally and clinically tractable scan times and will facilitate longitudinal neuroimaging of clinical populations.
DOI 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108540
PubMed ID 33357444
PubMed Central ID PMC7792478
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