Accelerating Dynamic Imaging in SimulScan: Simultaneous Functional MRI and Dynamic Imaging of Tongue Motion

Leveraging low rank and Partial Separability models, the SimulScan sequence and reconstruction was updated to drastically improve the quality and speed of dynamic imaging. This enables simultaneous functional MRI and dynamic imaging of oropharyngeal motions to be examined despite the many air/tissue interfaces. We demonstrate the improvement on a healthy adult performing a self-paced tongue tapping during the scan. The improved imaging will enable the examination of neural control of fine scale articulatory and oral movements critical for speech, feeding, and swallowing events.