• Volker Hesselmann, Ralf Girnus, Christoph Wedekind, Stefan Hunsche, Juergen Bunke, Oliver Schulte, Bettina Sorger, Kathrin Lasek, Barbara Krug, Volker Sturm, and Klaus Lackner.
• Department of Radiology, University of Cologne, Joseph Stelzmann-Strasse 9, 50924 Köln, Germany. Volker.Hesselmann@uni-koeln.de
• J Magn Reson Imaging. 2004 Aug 1; 20 (2): 321-6.

PurposeTo compare the performance of single shot echo planar imaging (SSEPI) with three-dimensional-multishot echo-planar imaging (EPI) based on principles-of-echo-shifting-with-a-train-of-observations (PRESTO) in combination with a standard quadrature head coil and, as an alternative, a multiple receiver coil in intraoperative functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Materials And MethodsSix healthy subjects underwent fMRI with visual stimulation using a SSEPI and a PRESTO-sequence with both coil systems. Statistical evaluation was done with a scanner-based post-processing software and SPM 99. The number of activated voxels in the visual cortex, the percent signal change between rest and activation, and finally the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) during time course were measured and compared for both coil systems and both sequences, used in four different combinations.ResultsBlood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal changes were the lowest with PRESTO and standard head coil and the highest for SSEPI and phased array coil. For the latter combination, a significantly higher signal change and larger activation size was observed together with a better SNR. SSEPI yielded similar performance using both coils.ConclusionSSEPI was superior due to its better SNR and a higher BOLD signal change in the defined settings, irrespective of the coil used. In a stereotactical setup the phased array coil can be used to generate fMRI data without loss of image quality.Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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