Fully automated localization of the human primary somatosensory cortex in one minute by functional magnetic resonance imaging

A clinical functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) protocol based on a fully automated tactile stimulation was optimized in 10 right-handed volunteers at 1.5 T for minimum scan time, high BOLD-signals and robust localization of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) by systematically varying the applied block design. All volunteers had six different fMRI measurements of 5 stimulation/baseline cycles each with equal block duration that was changed between the measurements from 6 to 30 s. Data sets of 4, 3 and 2 cycles were generated post hoc resulting in a total of 240 data sets that were evaluated individually for BOLD-signal intensity (dS%), correlation to the hemodynamic reference function (r) and Euclidean coordinates (x, y, z). The protocol with 5 cycles, a block duration of 6 s and a total scan time of 66 s provided the best BOLD-signal characteristics (dS% = 1.15, r = 0.78). Compared to the mean scan time of other clinical fMRI protocols (174 s) a reduction of 62% was achieved.

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