Advancing whole-brain BOLD fMRI in humans at 10.5 Tesla with motion-robust 3D EPI and RF parallel transmission: initial experience

Motivation: Pursuing quality high resolution BOLD fMRI is a main driver for developing human MRI systems operated at > 10 Tesla (10T). Goal(s): To promote whole-brain BOLD fMRI at 10.5T by combining parallel transmission (pTx), motion-robust 3D EPI, and high-density RF coil design. Approach: Resting-state fMRI data were collected at 1.58-mm isotropic resolution using a custom 16-channel transmit, 80-channel receive RF array. Spatial spectral pTx pulses were designed to achieve uniform water excitation. Reconstruction was performed with vs. without navigator-based intra-volume motion and field correction. Results: Corrected reconstruction effectively improved the quality of BOLD timeseries, reducing motion confounds and improving functional connectivity. Impact: Demonstrated useful for whole-brain BOLD fMRI at 10.5 T, our pTx-enabled, motion-robust 3D EPI technique will have potential to advance ultrahigh resolution fMRI at ultrahigh field, paving the way for obtaining a better understanding of brain function and connectivity.