Using multi-echo simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) EPI to improve functional MRI of the subcortical nuclei of the basal ganglia at ultra-high field (7T)

The nuclei of the basal ganglia pose a special problem for functional MRI, especially at ultra-high field, because T2* variations between different regions result in suboptimal BOLD sensitivity when using gradient-echo echo-planar imaging (EPI). Specifically, the iron-rich lentiform nucleus of the basal ganglia, including the putamen and globus pallidus, suffers from substantial signal loss when imaging is performed using conventional single-echo EPI with echo times optimized for the cortex. Multi-echo EPI acquires several echoes at different echo times for every imaging slice, allowing images to be reconstructed with a weighting of echo times that is optimized individually for each voxel according to the underlying tissue or T2* properties. Here we show that multi-echo simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) EPI can improve functional activation of iron-rich subcortical regions while maintaining sensitivity within cortical areas. Functional imaging during a motor task known to elicit strong activations in the cortex and the subcortex (basal ganglia) was performed to compare the performance of multi-echo SMS EPI to single-echo SMS EPI. Notably within both the caudate nucleus and putamen of the basal ganglia, multi-echo SMS EPI yielded higher tSNR (an average 84% increase) and CNR (an average 58% increase), an approximate 3-fold increase in supra-threshold voxels, and higher t-values (an average 39% increase). The degree of improvement in the group level t-statistics was negatively correlated to the underlying T2* of the voxels, such that the shorter the T2*, as in the iron-rich nuclei of the basal ganglia, the higher the improvement of t-values in the activated region.