Fundamentals of Preoperative Task Functional Brain Mapping

Blood oxygenation level–dependent (BOLD) imaging is gaining traction in the clinical realm as a measure for quantifying changes in regional blood flow in response to external stimuli. Through the evoked signal changes that are a consequence of hemoglobin's intrinsic paramagnetic properties, this technique allows for the statistical mapping of brain regions associated with a given task, which has broad applications in preneurosurgical planning for tumor resection. From an acquisition perspective, collection of BOLD data most commonly requires the use of echo planar imaging readout schemes. These sequences are currently widely available on most clinical scanners and at various field strengths. However, while the BOLD acquisition protocol is relatively straightforward, additional hardware and rigorous image processing are needed to correlate the time-dependent signal changes associated with a specific and well defined task. This manuscript will provide the necessary information to detail the physiologic underpinning of acquiring BOLD sensitized images and the important technical aspects of processing the data for use in a surgical environment.
Source: Topics in Magnetic Resonance Imaging - Category: Radiology Tags: Review Articles Source Type: research