Clinical fMRI at Ultrahigh Magnetic Fields: Promises and Challenges
Mohamed Seghier E-Mail
Professor of Neuroimaging, Healthcare Engineering Innovation Center, Biomedical Engineering Department, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Research Keywords: Cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging, functional MRI, lesion-symptom mapping, brain connectivity, brain laterality
Clinical fMRI concerns the use of function MRI to address clinically-relevant questions. Some of the applications of clinical fMRI include for instance the assessment of language lateralization in patients with epilepsy or brain tumors, presurgical mapping of eloquent cortex, the non-invasive identification of epileptic foci, the mapping of brain reorganization after stroke or injury, the longitudinal depiction of brain systems that sustain recovery, fMRI of pain processing, newborn and fetal fMRI, fMRI of ageing, pharmacological fMRI, psychiatric fMRI, and the identification of optimal brain stimulation targets. Some fMRI-based protocols, developed at typical magnetic fields (e.g. 1.5T or 3T), have ultimately replaced more invasive clinical tools. There is currently a growing interest in conducting fMRI at ultrahigh magnetic fields (UHF, 7T or higher). FMRI at UHF can boost reliability at the individual patient level thanks to the increase in signal-to-noise ratio which can translate into high spatial resolution and better BOLD sensitivity. This Special Issue invites original and unpublished research contributions as well as critical reviews to shed light on the advantages and challenges of scanning patients at UHF, with task-based, task-free or naturalistic paradigms. We are also interested to receive methods papers that are concerned with the development of robust acquisition and analysis methods towards artifact-free brain mapping, including for instance the reduction and correction of susceptibility-related distortions at UHF. Studies on how to maximize the safety of fMRI protocols at UHF are also welcome. This Special Issue serves as a platform for sharing new developments in this field of clinical fMRI at UHF, in particular as MRI scanners at 10T or even 20T will likely be available in the next decade. We look forward to your contribution to this important Special Issue.
Keywords: Clinical fMRI, brain mapping, functional neuroimaging, ultrahigh magnetic fields, preoperative mapping, BOLD contrast, imaging of neurological and mental deficits